SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Collection of questionnaire interviews carried out as part of the GCRF Drugs and (dis)order project in the borderlands of Nangarhar and Nimroz, Afghanistan (grant ES/P011543/1). The purpose of the interviews was to explore the production, trade and movement of several key commodities (legal and illegal) like minerals, drugs and fuel, and the impact on the political and economic stability of borderlands. The production, processing and consumption of illicit drugs is just one of a set of activities and means of livelihood in these borderland areas; and often only one of many that are deemed illegal. Therefore, the research adopted an approach that "talked around drugs not about drugs", thereby positioning the illicit drugs economy within broader questions about the livelihoods and the political economy of those living in these border areas and avoiding the kind of direct questions that often lead to the kind of aggrandizement, denial and the levelling of accusations of drugs trafficking at political opponents that has been seen in much of the official and scholarly literature. Interviews used a structured questionnaire from and were carried out by the Organization for Sustainable Development and Research (OSDR). Anonymous versions of these datasets, containing only coded responses, are available from the UK Data Service.