Ayub Afridi (; – ) was a Pakistani drug smuggler and tribal politician. He is considered to be the primary founder of the widespread drug trade (particularly heroin) in Afghanistan. There are a variety of speculations that Afridi, following his close collaboration with the CIA for Operation Cyclone against the Soviet Union, was approached by the United States as a part of an effort to gain easier access to Afghanistan and the semi-autonomous tribal areas of Pakistan after &lt;a href="September%2011%20attacks"&gt;9/11&lt;/a&gt;.