Pagah: “Increasing smuggling in Herat”

Text of editorial entitled “Increasing smuggling in Herat” by Afghan Herat University newspaper Pagah on 27 October 2007

Recently, security organizations in Herat Province, particularly the border police, have done their best to seize large amounts of drugs in border regions.

In addition, since the recent replacement of the Herat security commander, security situation has been relatively under control and the police have started to treat people humanely. Of course all this should be appreciated. However, the very question as to whether all these efforts are sufficient and effective enough to help security stay as it is will be answered in the course of time. Let me start with this fact: As a strategic and border town in a country like Afghanistan, which is the largest producer and cultivator of drug in all over the world, Herat has undoubtedly attracted the local and international mafia. This is because Herat can play the role of the best and most proper harbour for drug smugglers to carry out their business. A proof for this fact is the prevailing market of opium, heroin and crystal trade in Herat. As heard repeatedly from high-ranking government officials, some accomplices of the drug mafia and smugglers are working in senior government posts and provincial security officials share the profits with groups of drug smugglers.

Yes, a number of drug smugglers, who have been involved in bloodsheds, are carrying out their business without any fear in Herat Province, too. Unfortunately, these individuals had managed to receive weapons and safety warranty from the police before Mr [Joma] Adel was appointed Herat’s security commander. The men are still continuing their inhumane business by using the facilities they possess. Although, as executive organizations, Herat security officials have untiringly been working to establish security in the province, they will achieve nothing unless they set up foundational, accurate strategies to fight drug smuggling – identifying and arresting important members of the drug mafia. We feel the lack of such measures in the fight against the drugs trade. This is at a time that the anti-narcotics department is operating as a foundation where policies are made. This department is making tough efforts while it does not have a correct understanding of the region and situation. Their efforts resemble the struggle of a gardener who tries to repair the branches of a tree, while its roots have a serious problem.

Furthermore, corruption in government departments and preference of nepotism over competence are the main factors which have provided the ground for the drugs mafia to carry on with their business.

We are proud that drug cultivation has dropped significantly in Herat Province, but we are unaware that supply and demand are closely linked with each other. This means that the presence of drug smugglers in Herat have caused demands to rise in the country. And this market is getting busier and busier every day, which leads to an increase in drug cultivation and production.

On the other hand, drug smugglers are negligent of the tragic side of their business. By preferring their own interests to that of the nation and satisfying their ego, they are leading thousands of young men to self-destruction and bringing sorrow to mothers. They are ignorant that by sending out their stuff to other countries, nations will start to hate Afghans.

We hope that the central government, particularly concerned officials in Herat Province, pay serious attention to this issue so that our national identity and pride will continue to remain the same and that Afghans will continue to have friendly relations with the rest of the world. This will also help prevent many young people inside the country from becoming addicted to this destructive stuff. We hope that we are moving towards a prestigious and renovated Afghanistan.

[Description of Source: Herat Pagah in Dari --Sometimes critical of the government and foreign forces. OSC IAP20071027950070 27 Oct 07]

Radio Sahar: Herat police arrest seven on narcotics smuggling, abduction charges

Text of report by Afghan female-orientated community Radio Sahar on 11 October

[Presenter] Border police are reporting the arrest of seven people. According to the commander of Border Brigade No 4, the men were arrested on charges of drug smuggling and abduction. It is said that one of the officials of the same border brigade has been cooperating with the smugglers. He has also been arrested. Here is Hami Azad with further details:

[Correspondent] Col Rahmatollah Safi, commander of Border Brigade No 4, said one of his colleagues had been arrested on charges of helping the drug smugglers. The man has admitted to his crime under interrogation, he said. Mr Safi added that five other people were arrested for drug smuggling with 120 kg of drugs. The police have also seized a machinegun from the smugglers. The officials of the same brigade have also arrested a man on charges of kidnapping.

[Safi] We have seven accused. Five are drug smugglers who were arrested with a PK machinegun and a vehicle. We also arrested a border policeman, who helped and bribed from the smugglers.

[Correspondent] He added that the border police have seized a BM1 rocket with several rounds in Koh-e Zard, Musa Abad region in a separate operation. He said that unidentified people intended to bring the BM1 into the city. He also reported the discovery of several anti-tank mines in Kohsan District. These weapons and ammunition are seized amid local authorities’ efforts to provide a better ground for the holding of ECO summit. Although officials are saying that security has been tight these days, the presence of insurgents in the environs of the city has posed a threat.

[Description of Source: Herat Radio Sahar in Dari -- local independent radio station in Herat run mainly by women. OSC IAP20071011950064 1230 GMT 11 Oct 07]

IRIN: Increasing armed robberies, abductions in Herat

Increasing armed robberies, abductions in Herat Photo: Abdullah Shaheen/IRIN There are only 2,700 police to protect over two million people in Herat Province. HERAT, 25 September 2007 (IRIN) – Increasing armed robberies and abductions are causing widespread concern in Herat, a relatively peaceful province in western Afghanistan. In one of the most recent cases, over 600 workers at a flourmill in Herat Province lost their jobs when the company was shut down after its owner was abducted by armed men in September. The closure of Aria Flour Company, which supplied about 400 bakeries in Herat city, has resulted in rising flour prices and affected the work of hundreds of bread shops, local residents said. Over 12 cases of armed robbery, kidnapping, extortion and attacks on financial centres have been reported in Herat city in September alone – a 50 percent increase on the same period in 2006, provincial security officials said. One of the country’s main commercial centres, Herat’s share of Afghanistan’s national income has already seen a marked reduction in the last four months. “In the first four months of 2007 we saw a reduction of about US$14 million in Herat’s overall income compared to 2006,” said Ziaullah Sakha, head of the customs department in Herat. Multiple culprits Thousands of Afghans have swarmed into Herat Province since April after at least 200,000 Afghans have been deported to Afghanistan from neighbouring Iran, according to the Afghan government. Iran’s deputy interior minister, Mohammad-Baqer Zolqadr, told the Iranian IRNA news agency on 12 May that about 85,000 Afghans had been deported to Afghanistan in three weeks alone since 21 April. Most deportees are single men who, in view of their plight, are considered susceptible to crime, according to the Herat branch of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), the country’s rights watchdog. Herat Governor Alhaj Sayed Hussain Anwari, however, classified wrongdoers in his province into three main categories. “First, there are armed thieves who are widely involved in security incidents. There are also Taliban elements, who try to destabilise the whole situation. Some people with political motivations also contribute to the festering security situation,” Anwari told IRIN. Officials in Herat Province acknowledge that criminal gangs and their influential kingpins easily escape legal action as a result of endemic corruption and their ability to exploit kinship ties in provincial bodies. Photo: Khalid Nahez/IRIN Hundreds of people in Herat have lost their jobs due to a worsening security situation. Limited police force There are only 2,700 police for over two million people in Herat Province, Afghanistan’s second most populated province after Kabul, according to the provincial authorities. Devastated by decades of armed conflict and chaos, Afghanistan is yet to build up its security infrastructure, including a national police force of 80,000. Governor Anwari complained about lack of police resources and professionalism, saying they contributed to deteriorating security. “The police are not professional,” he said. In a press release issued on 20 September the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency expressed concern about the impunity of those accused of the abduction of businessmen, and armed robberies. Noor Khan Niekzad, a senior police officer, said: “We are doing our best to arrest criminals and ensure an atmosphere of peace for the citizens of Herat”. “Insecurity plunges people deep into poverty and vulnerability,” said Gulam Nabi Hakak, head of the AIHRC in Herat Province. “People could again migrate to Iran and Pakistan if security does not improve.” khn/ad/cb

Themes: (IRIN) Economy, (IRIN) Governance, (IRIN) Migration, (IRIN) Urban Risk

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Report can be found online at: http://www.irnnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74465

Humanitarian Policy Group: Case study of corruption and humanitarian assistance in Aghanistan

Recent HPG study on corruption, with examples from Herat.