Publication

This paper explores the linkages between the drugs economy, borderlands and post-conflict reconstruction in Afghanistan through a historical analysis of the district of Sheghnan. Sheghnan is a remote district on the Afghan-Tajik border, a place where, the author argues, the drugs economy has become an important part of the border transformation. He charts the opening and closing of the border, the movement of people, commodities and ideas across the border, local resources and the multifaceted networks that are involved in the drugs trade. The paper argues that examining the frontier may illuminate processes of state formation, collapse and rebuilding.