A state built on sand: how opium undermined Afghanistan

418 Pages·2016·9.683 MB·English

by  Mansfield, David

A STATE BUILT ON SAND

DAVID MANSFIELD
A State Built on Sand
How Opium Undermined Afghanistan
A
A
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
David Mansfield
A State Built on Sand: How Opium Undermined Afghanistan.
ISBN: 9780190608316
Printed in India on acid-free paper
To
Joanne, Ben and Nathan

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements xi
Preface xv
1. Establishing the Context 1
Introduction 1
Rationale 4
Hypothesis and Questions 8
Methodology 9
Structure 10
2. Power, Corruption and Drug Crop Cultivation 13
Introduction 13
Behaving Like a State: Drug Control and Statebuilding 15
Fulfilling International Drug Control Obligations in Countries
with Limited or Contested Domestic Sovereignty 20
Conclusion 38
3. Rural Livelihoods Perspectives on Drug Crop Production 41
Introduction 41
Assessing Changes in Patterns of Drug Crop Cultivation from Afar:
The Limits of the Current Literature 43
Reshaping our Understanding of Drug Crop Cultivation and Those
Who Cultivate Drug Crops 50
Using the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach to Improve Understanding
of Drug Crop Cultivation and Efforts to Ban It 52
Conclusion 63
vii
CONTENTS
4. R esearch Methodology 65
Introduction 65
Focusing the Research 66
The Research Design 68
Collecting Primary Data 79
Adapting to the Security Environment: Methodological
and Ethical Considerations 86
Conclusion 90
5. An Historical Overview: Statebuilding and Drug Production
in Afghanistan 91
Introduction 91
Statebuilding in Afghanistan 92
Opium Production, Policy and Efforts at Control 102
Conclusion 118
6. Repositioning a Pariah Regime—The Taliban Ban of 2000/01 121
Introduction 121
Taking the Moral High Ground 123
The Ball is in Your Court: Negotiating with the International
Community 126
Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t 130
A Movement, Not a Monolith 132
Conclusion 135
7. Nangarhar—A Model Province 139
Introduction 139
The Provincial Context 141
Banning Opium in Nangarhar 145
Conclusion 165
8. The Ban Unravels 169
Introduction 169
Politics at the Centre: The Return of the Nangarhari Elite 171
Beyond the Politics of Personalities: An Analysis of the Changing
Political and Economic Circumstances of Rural Constituents 176
Conclusion 203
9. The Helmand Food Zone—A Technocratic Response to a
Complex Phenomenon 209
Introduction 209
viii