Helmand Drug Profits Fund Alms for the Poor

Drug traffickers in the war-torn Helmand province have been winning public support by distributing some of their ill-gotten gains to the poor during the fasting month of Ramadan.



Many people interviewed by IWPR said the traffickers had given out food and clothing to some of Helmand’s neediest families during the holy month and the Eid al-Fitr festival which marks its end.



“May God bless them [the traffickers],”said Faizullah, a resident of the Washir district, which has been under Taleban control for over six months. “People have been very happy during Ramadan. The traffickers have helped us in many ways, like giving out clothes for Eid, distributing food and other things.”



The growing Taleban insurgency in Helmand has proved a boon to the drugs trade, since government eradicators cannot get into many areas to monitor or destroy the opium poppy crop. The chaos has kept out aid agencies and prevented any meaningful development from taking place, something that has caused resentment and anger among local people.



In return for protection, drug traffickers are believed to be providing money and weapons to the Taleban.



One smuggler in Washir, who did not want to be named, said he had distributed goods worth 200,000 Pakistani rupees, or 3,300 US dollars, in the last four weeks. The rupee is in common use in this southern province, often edging out the national currency, the afghani.



“I distributed [charity] to the poor in the shape of food and clothing during the holy month of Ramadan,” said the smuggler. “We are Muslims and we are obliged to give alms. I gave most of it to the poor, and a small amount to the Taleban who are fighting for Islam.”



Helmand is the world centre of poppy cultivation. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, this one province supplies close to half the world’s opium and its major derivative, heroin. Efforts to combat the poppy trade have backfired badly – for the past two years, production has skyrocketed.



Given the generosity of the drug traffickers, residents do not seem to be complaining.



Musa-Qala, like Washir, is almost completely under Taleban control. In February, a tenuous peace agreement brokered by tribal elders collapsed, and the fundamentalists swept into the district centre.



Here, too, some profits from the drug trade have made their way to the needy.



Traffickers “filled cars full of food and distributed it among the poor in the district during Ramadan”, said resident Zia-ul-Haq.



“They are very compassionate. We would have a very miserable life had they not helped us. We will always support them.”



A narcotics trader from Musa Qala said that while he helped the poor during Ramadan, he did not give donations to the Taleban. Instead, he simply paid them for their services in helping him smuggle drugs.



“I give out my alms during Ramadan every year and distribute it among the needy,” he said. “Sometimes I help the Taleban when they help me. They provide me with security when I come up against government forces.”



Giving alms during Ramadan is an important tenet of the Muslim faith, which recommends that one-fortieth of the year’s surplus profits go to charity as a tithe known as “zakat”.



Despite the fact that the use of opium and other narcotics is prohibited in Islam, local mullahs do not seem to have a problem with the proceeds of the drugs trade being used to help the poor.



“Opium trading is legal, but its consumption is not,” said Mawlawi Rahmatullah, a religious leader in Sangin district. “Anything that is legitimate and can be traded for a profit is subject to zakat.”



Many mullahs benefit from the narcotics trade, which may help explain their indulgent position. It is common for opium farmers in Helmand to pay one-tenth of their proceeds to the clerics, in a local interpretation of “ushr”, the Muslim tithe on agricultural land use.



“Those who profit from opium are obliged to pay ushr,” said a mullah from Greshk district, who did not want to be named. “If they do not, they are cutting down one of the pillars of Islam.”



The practice of paying mullahs out of opium profits has reportedly encouraged some clerics from outside to move to Helmand, despite the lack of security. Other provinces such as neighbouring Wardak where poppy cultivation is now fairly limited do not provide such a good living.



“I always look forward to my share of the poppy harvest,” said the mullah in Greshk. “Distributing alms during the holy month of Ramadan is counted as a good deed, and I respect that. May God give these people the ability to continue.”



Matiullah Minapal is a freelance reporter in Helmand; Wahidullah Amani is IWPR’s lead trainer and reporter in Kabul.