a house divided, 1933–73journey from Kabul or Herat to the main distribution centre in Chaghcharan
could take a week. At the local level relief supplies to remote communities
were delivered by huge convoys of pack animals.
To add to Afghanistan’s economic woes, following the outbreak of
war between West and East Pakistan in December 1971, the government
of West Pakistan withdrew the 100 and 500 rupee notes in order to stem
rampant inflation. Consequently many Afghan exporters went bankrupt as
these high denomination notes, which were commonly used when trading
with Pakistan, were now valueless. From the late 1960s the government
also had to deal with the influx of thousands of American and European
hippies or, as Ambassador Neumann called them ‘drug-frazzled freaks’,
who were en route to India. 52 Afghanistan was a key stopping-off place for
travellers on the Hippy Trail, for it was reputed to grow the best marijuana
and opium in the world.
The smoking of hashish (chars) and raw opium (taryaq) was noth-
ing new to Afghans, who traditionally grew small amounts for domestic
consumption, but the government did not regard this low-level use as
a major social evil. The arrival of thousands of hippies changed all this
and in response to rising demand the cultivation of marijuana and opium
burgeoned. Since the opium poppy was more drought resistant than wheat,
and the crop worth far more per hectare than grain or vegetables, local
farmers began to switch to opium. Soon Afghan marijuana and opium
began to appear on the North American and European black markets.
As addiction rates rose, so did the crime rate. In an attempt to address its
rising drug problem, the usa demanded that the Afghan government act to
suppress opium production and usaid tried to introduce alternative cash
crops, though with patchy success. The drug issue was particularly embar-
rassing for the usa, since the major opium-producing region was along
the Bogra Canal system in the Helmand, a project built by an American
company and funded by the State Department.
Both the government and foreign embassies were overwhelmed by the
problems presented by the hippy trail. Many travellers died from dysentery,
hepatitis or typhus or from overdoses. Addicts sold their blood, pass-
ports and possessions in order to feed their habits, others begged in the
streets or turned to drug dealing, prostitution and theft. Many ended up
before the courts and were jailed. Those who died were buried, often in
unmarked graves, in the Qabr-i Gora, the European cemetery. The Western
media’s interest in the hippy trail drew attention to Afghanistan’s opium
production, which was deeply embarrassing for the government, since it
was blamed for a problem not of its making and undermined attempts to