Torture and forced internment: the Taliban's war on drug addicts

Torture and forced internment: the Taliban's war on drug addicts

In Kabul, Afghanistan

In the heart of Dasht-e-Barchi, west of Kabul, a man strolls, his eyes wide. It sinks into the bowels of the Paghman River, or at least what's left of it. The watercourse that crosses the Afghan capital now forms only a yellowish liquid trickle, and scattered pockets of mud. A few meters away, under the Pul-e-Sokhta bridge (the "burnt bridge" in French), souls wander aimlessly. Like zombies, some zigzag across the damp ground. Others sit in small groups. Every day, hundreds of Afghans gather here to get their fix of opium, crack or heroin.

Pul-e-Sokhta, the bridge of drug addicts

Against a wall, a man grabs a scarf with a trembling hand to hide from passers-by. He is about to take a shot of happiness. For a few hours, time will stop for him. He will bury his worries. All around, a dozen tents are installed. Many addicts sleep there, because they no longer have contact with their families.

This is the case with Amir. He is barely 30 years old, but he looks 40. Originally from Mazar-e-Chârif, in the north of the country, he has been addicted to methamphetamine for two years: "I use it eight times a day", says he. Called "shisheh" in Afghanistan (literally "glass"), this drug is highly prized for its low cost and easy consumption. In 2019, authorities seized 935 kilos of methamphetamine; 180 the previous year. Meth addiction is thought to have overtaken opium and its derivative, heroin.

A crack user from the Dasht-e-Barchi district shows off his gear. Kabul, Afghanistan, November 24, 2021. | Florient Zwein/Hans Lucas

Like many addicts, Amir started because he was “unemployed, desperate for life”. Friends offered to take her first dose. The socio-economic situation, the trauma of the war and the influence of the environment are the main factors that push some Afghans towards drugs. Afghanistan, the world's largest opium producer, not only supplies European markets with heroin: Afghans are themselves major consumers.

In total, 3.5 million people are addicted to at least one drug, out of a population of 40 million Afghans: a record. “Drugs are everywhere. It's easy to get hold of, says Amir. Dealers regularly come to sell us under the bridge.” To curb the phenomenon, the country has always favored repression rather than prevention. Since the Taliban came to power last August, the "strong method" has become more pronounced.

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Repression without prevention

Like Amir, Obed comes below deck to “consume in peace”. His family is unaware that he is here: “My wife has filed for divorce. Shisheh makes you aggressive and my sex life is affected.” In the bowels of Paghman, everyone lives to the rhythm of their dose of drugs. The atmosphere is electric: “Sometimes we fight and we take our doses, notes Obed. Myself, I have already stolen to get drugs.

But the biggest danger in Pul-e-Sokhta remains unsanitary conditions. For lack of means to buy syringes, heroin users exchange their equipment. "These practices reinforce bacterial infections and viral infections such as HIV and hepatitis C," says Dr. Michaël Bisch, head of the addiction department at the Nancy psychotherapeutic center.

When questioned on the subject, drug addicts claim that no structure helps them to consume in better conditions. In 2012, Doctors of the World developed a support program for addicts by distributing sterilized syringes and offering heroin substitution treatment, methadone. But the French NGO stopped its actions in the country the following year. Since then, prevention seems limited, even non-existent. Due to a lack of assistance from the public authorities and NGOs, overdoses are frequent: “There are three corpses under the bridge. They have been there for several days, no one has come to pick them up, says Amir. Obviously, they died by overdose.

Torture and forced internment: the war of Taliban against drug addicts

Many addicts gather near the Pul-e-Sokhta bridge in the Dasht-e-Barchi district of Kabul, Afghanistan, November 24, 2021. | Florient Zwein/Hans Lucas

Torture and forced hospitalizations

Drug addicts scan the surroundings with a worried air: “There are regular raids organized by the Taliban police, says Obed. I myself was arrested, I stayed three days at the station. There, the Taliban tortured me. They laid me on my stomach, beat me, then electrocuted me!” Amir agrees: “They treat us like dogs, like less than nothing.”

Occasionally, as night falls, Taliban fighters-turned-policemen roam the underworlds of Pul-e-Sokhta in search of easy prey. Once rounded up, addicts are often beaten and forcibly taken to treatment centers.

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Jasmine Bhatia, lecturer in political science at Birkbeck (University of London), underlines the contradictions of the Taliban movement: “Because of their religious ideology, the Taliban strongly suppress drug consumption. But we do not find the same restrictions on traffic. On this level, they have developed a pragmatic approach, they have adapted their ideology. In 2000-2001, when they were in power, the Taliban had stopped the production of opium in a dazzling way. But after the fall of their regime (2001), they became insurgents again, they largely used drug trafficking to finance themselves.

Securing funding, and above all obtaining local support. By facilitating the cultivation of the opium poppy, the Taliban have obtained support in the countryside: because of the lack of economic opportunities, many Afghan farmers have no choice but to cultivate this herbaceous plant. The Islamic Emirate tolerates this practice today: "It's an ancient tradition", defends Mullah Abdulhaq Akhundzada, Taliban head of the department dedicated to drug trafficking at the Ministry of the Interior. The repression of consumers therefore seems to be a "showcase" supposed to show that efforts are still being made in the fight against drugs.

On the outskirts of Kabul, on the road leading to Jalalabad, armed Taliban guard the entrance to the Ibn Sina hospital, which has a thousand beds for drug addicts. Inside, hundreds of patients are gathered in a courtyard. Shaved heads, dressed in a blue and white striped uniform, some are lying on the ground, enjoying the rays of the sun that caress their skin. Others wander between the trees, looking absent.

Among them, Ali, with hollow features, a lean body, is sitting on a bench: “I have been an opium addict for twenty years, he says. I started in Iran when I worked as a carpet salesman.” The practice is common, given the ease of access to drugs in the neighboring country. "I was arrested by the Taliban about twenty days ago," says Ali. They hit me in the stomach several times.” Around him, about thirty patients strongly agree, claiming to have also been victims of torture before being sent to the hospital center.

Drug users interned in the Ibn Sina drug treatment center in Kabul, Afghanistan, November 25, 2021. | Florient Zwein/Hans Lucas

When asked about the issue of police violence, Mullah Abdulhaq Akhundzada said that “outrages did indeed take place at the beginning. But today drug addicts are treated well by the police.” However, all the addicts we met who were arrested by the Taliban tell us that they have suffered physical and moral violence, even very recently. Ali clears his throat before continuing in a hoarse voice: “After hitting me, they took me by force to this centre. I have been locked up for twenty-one days.

Hundreds of drug addicts arrested by the police were thus forced to begin a detoxification treatment, with the obligation to stay forty-five days in the Ibn Sina hospital. However, according to research on drug withdrawal, a drug-dependent person must consent to start a detoxification treatment: “Medical coercion for addiction treatment does not work, recalls Doctor Michaël Bisch. Doing an involuntary withdrawal is a very unpleasant experience.” And in fact, in the event of medical constraint, the risk of relapse is high. Not only do drug addicts suffer physically and psychologically, but the human and financial resources deployed for arrest and treatment within the hospital are uselessly wasted: “This is my second time in this centre. I quickly relapsed after my first treatment. This is the case for many patients here,” says Ahmad, a patient.

Ali, a drug addict for twenty years, was beaten up by the police before being sent to Ibn Sina hospital. Kabul, Afghanistan, November 25, 2021. | Florient Zwein/Hans Lucas

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Hospital full and boxes empty

Ibn Sina's dormitories are concentrated in small buildings at the back of the center. The classic rooms bring together more than a hundred beds, but in some rooms, the patients sleep on the floor: “The capacity of this hospital amounts to a thousand beds. But since the arrival of the Taliban, the number of arrests has exploded,” says Ahmad Zoher Sultani, the director of the hospital. “We now have to accommodate three thousand patients. We have no say when the Taliban arrive with new drug addicts…”

In a room of a hundred square meters, dozens of patients are lying next to each other on a thin degraded carpet. "We don't sleep well. Sometimes we have to share a blanket, the floor is cold and we have no heating. The nights in Kabul are freezing!” laments Walid, surrounded by a group of comrades. Interned for twenty-one days, Walid was addicted to opium. The living conditions in the center are all the more difficult for a patient in withdrawal: “I feel things more intensely. My body is in pain from the lack of drugs,” he explains.

According to psychiatrist Michaël Bisch, locking up addicts in such poor conditions is counterproductive: “If a drug addict visits this center, the day when he really wants to stop drugs, he will have in mind a terrible memory of his previous withdrawal. Having a very negative experience closes the door to care structures in the future.”

A crack user suffers from a lack of drugs in the Ibn Sina drug treatment center. Kabul, Afghanistan, November 25, 2021. | Florient Zwein/Hans Lucas

Leaning against a wall in the inner courtyard, several patients raise their hands to their mouths as a sign of hunger: "We don't have enough to eat," says Samir. The doctor who accompanies us comments, looking embarrassed: “We lack means in the center…” Since the Taliban took power last August and the establishment of international sanctions, the coffers of the Afghan state have been empty. It has been several months since the nursing staff no longer receives a salary.

“After the fall of Kabul, about 150 employees of the center fled abroad,” notes the director of the center. I myself am waiting for a visa. In total, we had four hundred employees. We are two hundred and fifty today. Almost half have left and the number of patients has tripled.” Due to a lack of salary to offer, the center was unable to recruit new employees. Shortcomings in personnel are found in the hygiene of the premises. In the buildings where the patients sleep, the floors are covered with filth and a smell of rot has invaded the space. The beds are rusty, half saggy, and look like they're ready to break. "The situation is untenable," breathes Atiqullah, a caregiver at the center.

Today, for food and medicine, the hospital is still operating on the 2021 budget. The director, turning his gaze towards the hospital canteen, does not hide his concern: “Afghanistan is increasingly isolated and international aid is limited.” As the financial crisis worsens, the hospital center could soon run out of resources to feed patients: “In 2022, we risk closing our doors.”