Revisiting Narco trade in South-West Asia: From Non-traditional to Traditional Security Assessment

Abstract

With Afghanistan as a major producer of global illicit drugs, the security dynamics of tri border area between Pakistan-Afghanistan and Iran remain in a flux. Dominantly, academic discourse focuses on the issue through the non-traditional security lens focusing on its transnational nature. However, this research critically shifts the discussion towards a mandatory reconceptualization from the prism of traditional security. The idea rests on the notion that, narco trafficking in this region is not just a criminal activity in the periphery, but is a major enabler of terrorist groups in Pakistan, particularly Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). This in turn facilitates regional destabilization, allowing these groups to conduct trans-national operations, challenge state sovereignty and authority. Through a qualitative methodology of content analysis of primary and secondary data, the study is structured towards testing two key hypotheses: H1: illicit narco trade in tri border region of Afghanistan-Pakistan-Iran poses a direct traditional security threat to state sovereignty. H2: Unilateral responses are ineffective in view of security interdependence between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. These hypotheses are tested through security trend analysis and examination of intra-border terrorist activities in consonance with narcotics routes. In addition, the lens of Security interdependence, by Barry Buzan is used to view how interrelated state insecurities underpin and amplify the threat.