Nearly all are among intravenous heroin users - a practice that is rising sharply across Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is seen as the weakest, most vulnerable link in the Central Asia chain. Most of the drug traffic reaches Kyrgyzstan through its southern neighbor, Tajikistan, which fought its own civil war for much of the 1990s and has a fragile coalition government. For us it is clear that unless legitimate sources of income are created, it will not change. Billions of dollars are behind it.
People are poor.
IMU guerrillas have been trained in Afghanistan by the radical Taliban militia, which controls 95 percent of the country - and reaps taxes on the opium crop. The IMU provides the Taliban a path to market, Mr. Djanuzakov contends. This is evidence of increased traffic, and why the goal of our government is to strengthen our Army and our borders. Few doubt the dangers. But many argue that, despite some success against traffickers, Kyrgyz authorities themselves are involved, and that claims of an IMU role are a smokescreen.