Afghanistan: Addicted To Heroin

Steve Kroft Reports On Afghanistan's Booming Heroin Trade

(CBS) 

One U.S. counter-narcotics official told Kroft that corruption is worse in Afghanistan than it is in Colombia, and estimated that 90 percent of the police chiefs are either directly involved in the drug business or protecting those who are.

The British trained mobile unit says it is under orders to stop police cars and official motorcades as well as ordinary buses. Official vehicles are the preferred means of transporting opium.

There have been a few small successes. The government has stepped up a modest poppy eradication program, and with the help of the U.S. state department is trying to persuade farmers to grow alternative crops.

The number of acres of poppy under cultivation actually dropped 20 percent in 2005, although opium and heroin production remained about the same.

In the village of Kushkak, farmers told 60 Minutes that they voluntarily quit growing opium poppy after the government promised to build them health clinics, schools and roads. But the promises have not materialized and they are growing impatient.

“We did promise them alternative livelihoods," says Karzai. "We have told them that they should stop growing poppy, that we’ll be there to help them. And if we don’t do that, people out of desperation will go back to poppies, and we should not allow that."

But illegal profits from the opium and heroin trade are not only helping warlords and corrupt officials expand their influence over the government. There is evidence that some of the money is ending up with the Taliban and al Qaeda, who elicit tolls, protection money and drugs from traffickers in areas they control.

“Narcotics is such an insidious, creeping, potentially lethal problem in that country that it needs to be elevated to a rank that is commensurate with that threat,” says Charles.

Asked whether he is saying that this issue is as important as fighting terrorism, he said, “I am.”