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weather), but high prices remain the fundamental factor underlying continuing
opium cultivation in Afghanistan. It should be noted that approximately 95 per
cent of the opium crop is produced in the southern and western provinces, the
most insecure parts of the country: there is a close relation between the
(in)security of these provinces and the level of opium production there. As is
known, highly active anti-government elements exist in the southern and western
provinces of Afghanistan, and there is little or no access for United Nations (UN)
units and other international organisations.
Afghanistan is a major producer of drugs with 90 per cent of world supply of
heroin. Almost 375 tons of heroin are transported annually from Afghanistan to
global markets. Roughly a quarter of that volume passes through Central Asia,
via the Northern Route (UNODC, 2013).
As can be seen, the present domestic situation in Afghanistan is highly
challenging. Given the current potential of the Afghan forces it is unlikely that
they will be able to cope with a Taliban insurgency on their own. Accordingly,
an increase in instability will simultaneously escalate the drug situation in the
country.
CENTRAL ASIA, AFGHANISTAN AND THE FOREIGN POLICY OF
UZBEKISTAN
Since the 1990s Central Asia has evolved as a region consisting of five post-
Soviet states. Though some scholars see it as a little broader by including East
China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, or even Mongolia in terms of geography and
history, a scholarly consensus has already emerged that on international policy
agendas the region consists of the five republics only.
Since the 1990s, the Central Asian states have gone through various integration
models. Interestingly, all the existing models have one common specific: no
regional integration structure has emerged without the participation of an outside
actor – the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Eurasian Economic
Community (EurAsEC), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO),
the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and so on. Central Asia has not
yet become a pure ‘Central Asian’ integrated entity. Furthermore, almost all the
existing regional communities have a wide range of internal inconsistencies.
EurAsEC is proceeding on the path of ‘two-speed integration’ with the
establishment of the Customs Union by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, and
others following behind. The SCO is currently experiencing a stalemate situation
and facing a ‘dilemma of enlargement’, not to mention differences between the
Russian and Chinese perspectives on the SCO, which are becoming more and
more evident.
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