Ramita Navai - Blog From Afghanistan

4 OCTOBER, 2010.
This year was one of the most memorable birthdays I've had. I was standing under a bridge in the city of Kabul, on a stinking carpet of needles and excrement surrounded by scores of heroin addicts. At first many were suspicious of me and the director, Matt Haan. However, I could speak their language - Persian and Dari - which helped. As they gathered round and gradually opened up, they talked not only about how drugs had consumed them, but also revealed how addiction rates amongst the younger generation were soaring.

It wasn't long before we found boys under the bridge so disturbed by what they had witnessed they had taken to smoking heroin. The continuing violence of fire-fights, suicide attacks and the resulting death was taking its toll. Most were trying to forget, and numb their existence. Ali, a softly spoken, gentle 15-year-old heroin addict told me his intake had doubled after witnessing two bombings. He was haunted by the memory of having to collect his neighbour's body parts in the aftermath. Time after time we spoke to boys with similar stories; the trauma they experienced was clearly the hidden fallout from the war with the Taliban.

As we travelled around the capital we found other reasons why children were hooked. Desperate poverty in Afghanistan means many men seek work abroad in Pakistan and Iran. To help them work longer hours they used stimulants and other drugs to keep them going - eventually falling in to addiction. On their return home they brought their habits with them and it wasn't long before the rest of their family were also using.

Elsewhere we found other underlying causes that were leading to addiction. Ordinary Afghans cannot afford the most basic medicines and increasing amounts of opium were being used as a painkiller substitutes. Outside the capital in the remote province of Badakshan we found families struggling to find food. Here we discovered an entire village taking opium to suppress their hunger pains. The sad reality was it was cheaper than buying bread.

There are also limited options for parents who want to help their children. There're too few rehab centers and without that next hit their child faces incredibly painful withdrawal symptoms. With heroin and opium in cheap and plentiful supply all some could do is continue to feed their child's habit.

From what I'd seen, it seemed the country's future was being destroyed by drug addiction. When I left the addicts under the bridge they made me promise that I'd let people know what was happening to them and other ordinary young Afghans. In Kabul, you cannot stay filming in one place too long; we had to go. As I left, they wished me a happy birthday, graciously bowing their heads with their hands on their hearts. They then returned to their respective groups and continued to smoke.

Another raw example of the insanity of war and its annihilating fallout. With the occupying Americans using the destruction of Opium fields as one of the biggest pretences besides the 'War on Terror' for their continued presence in Afghanistan, it makes you wonder what the future of the country holds for its citizens under American rule.