Research paper
Beyond the drug-terror nexus: Drug trafficking and state-crime relations in Central Asia

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2014.01.013Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

In the wake of collapse of the Soviet Union, Central Asia has transformed into a key hub along the Afghan opiates trafficking routes. Around 30 percent of the heroin manufactured in Afghanistan is estimated to be smuggled through Central Asian republics in its way to booming drug markets in Russia and Eastern Europe.

Methods

Building upon available evidence and extensive fieldwork research, the article seeks to confute mainstream analyses which emphasize connections between criminal and terrorist networks. The focus is on conducive factors for the establishment of drug routes in Central Asia, the characteristics of drug related networks, and the nature of political-criminal relations across the region.

Results

It is argued that in all five Central Asia republics strategic partnerships have formed between drug traffickers and state actors around the exploitation of drug rents and that mafias’ influence on politics is stronger in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, the region's poorest countries.

Conclusion

By moving the focus from narco-terror to the state-crime connections, the article provides a critical insight into political economy issues surrounding a complex and multifaceted phenomenon such as the drug trade.

Introduction

Central Asia has been for long time the heart of the Silk Road, a network of commercial routes connecting Asia to Europe. Since more than 2500 years ago caravans laden with spices, luxurious fabrics and precious stones crossed the Ferghana valley and its oasis-towns of Samarqand and Bokhara. Recently, after the collapse of the USSR and the independence of the five Central Asian Republics, these historical commercial routes have started being used again. And alongside all types of “legal” goods, also illegal ones – especially narcotic drugs – are traded along the “new” Silk Road.

Central Asia is located between Afghanistan, the world largest producer of opium poppy, and Russia, – since 1991 the most important emerging market for opiates consumption. Large-scale smuggling of opium and heroin started soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Initially mainly opium was trafficked. Then, since late 1990s, heroin gradually penetrated the Central Asia drug trafficking market and now it is by far its most important commodity. The Central Asian drug trade has started gathering significant international attention in the aftermaths of 9/11. The threat that instability would spill over the northern borders of Afghanistan was seen as a major security concern by the International Community. In the wake of the renewed attention to Central Asia, a number of analysts and academics started investigating the dynamics of drug trafficking in Central Asia from the perspective of the so called narco-terror nexus (see Björnehed, 2005, Cornell and Swanstrom, 2006, Makarenko, 2002). The central argument in this body of work is that the post-Cold War security environment is characterized by a merger of organized crime, the drug trade and terrorism (Makarenko, 2002). Such an approach is very problematic in terms of evidence and analysis. Drug related crime and terrorism are two very different phenomena. For terrorists the drug trade is a source of revenues, that is to say a mean that they use to wage warfare against governments. On the contrary, capital accumulation is the aim for criminal syndicates, and in pursuing profit they do not seek a direct confrontation against the state, but rather other forms of coexistence (Stepanova, 2010).

In the case of Central Asia, there is very limited evidence of strong connections between criminal cartels and radical Islamic groups. Drug operations carried out by Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan between 1999 and 2001 are taken by most sources as proof of the “narco-terror” nexus (Brill Olcott and Udalova, 2000, Cornell and Swanstrom, 2006, ICG, 2001). But after 2001, the IMU left their bases in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and moved to Afghanistan (Nash, 2007). Since then activities of militant Islamic groups in Central Asia have reduced, and at the moment the risk of spill-over from Afghanistan is limited (Resa Kazani, 2013). Despite this, the narco-terror approach is still at the centre of Western counter-narcotics policies and interventions in Central Asia. One of the major military assistance programme in Central Asia of the US government is denominated “Counter Narco-Terror” (CNT) and its main objective is to promote regional stability in the region (US Embassy in Tajikistan, 2008).

This article seeks to “go beyond” the narco-terror approach and analyse the phenomenon of Central Asian drug trade in its complexity, examining the actual causes, actors, dynamics and impacts. Building upon the work of authors like Marat (2006), Engvall (2006), Paoli, Rabkov, Greenfield, Reuter (2007), Latypov (2009), Lewis (2010) and Kupatadze (2008), the analysis will be focused on the symbiotic relationships that have developed in Central Asian republics between state actors and criminal syndicates around the exploitation of drug related rents. In other words, the paper seeks to move the debate on the Central Asian drug trade from the narco-terror to the state-crime nexus.

Section snippets

The methodological challenges of researching drugs

Data gathering represents the main challenge in researching drug related issues. In most contemporary societies, narcotic drugs and criminal syndicates are seen as alien phenomena. Drugs and crime belong to the underworld, to the realm of shadows. Setting aside all ethical and empirical considerations, this mainstream view of criminality has also a direct implication in terms of data gathering. No record exists of the hundreds of tons of cocaine that enter the US every year. No accurate

Defining mafias

Drug related networks, as we said, are a very difficult subject to investigate. The lack of reliable information, together with the secrecy and violence surrounding criminal structures and activities, make it extremely difficult for researchers to gather relevant data. These difficulties are reflected in the academic debate on organized crime. There is no agreement in the academic community on how to define mafia as a specific type of criminal organization. For long time the stereotyped

The causes: drugs and transitions in Central Asia

Since the early 1990s Central Asia has transformed into a key hub along the opiates trafficking routes connecting Asia and Europe. Multiple factors contributed to such outcome: from a global perspective, changes in the world drug markets such as the sharp rise of poppy production in Afghanistan and the creation of a huge heroin consumption market in Russia were favourable for the establishment of drug trafficking routes through Central Asia, while at the domestic level a combination of

Central Asian drug mafias: actors and dynamics

Due to the conducive geographical and political-economic factors described above, Central Asia has become a major drugs transit region starting from 1991. A multiplicity of criminal groups are active in the various phases of the drug trade. These groups have gradually improved organizational structures and logistics during the past twenty years. Central Asian drug mafias are now well-established networks that operate in collaboration with, or under the protection of, state actors, and that have

The state-crime nexus in Central Asian republics

Mafias, differently from other types of criminal organizations, are totally integrated in the political, economic and social fabric of the surrounding environment. While carrying out illegal activities, members of criminal networks interact constantly with authorities, notables, entrepreneurs or community leaders (Santino, 1995, Armao, 2000). The relations between mafias and state actors are usually based on an exchange of favours: state actors provide immunity from prosecution, and criminal

The reaction: international counter-narcotics policy in Central Asia

Starting from the mid 1990s, western donors have provided counter-narcotics assistance to Central Asian governments. International commitment has grown significantly after 9/11 and following the deployment of American and European armies in Afghanistan, when countering the drug trade became a priority for security policies and interventions in this region. The International Community has invested a significant amount of money on counter-narcotics assistance in Central Asia. Between 2003 and

Conclusion

Since the early 1990s Central Asia has become a major transit region for Afghan opiates bound to Russia. A combination of conducive geographical and political-economic factors contributed to make the region a fertile ground for the establishment of drug trafficking activities. The region borders with Afghanistan, the world main producer of opium, and strong connections exist between Central Asia and Russia, where heroin consumption has been sharply on the rise during the last 20 years. On the

Conflict of interest statement

None declared.

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