Drugs and (Dis)order Questionnaire Interviews on Crossborder Trading in Nangarhar and Nimroz, 2018-2019

Collection of questionnaire interviews carried out as part of the GCRF Drugs and (dis)order project in the borderlands of Nangarhar and Nimroz, Afghanistan. The purpose of the interviews was to explore the production, trade and movement of several key commodities ‒ legal and illegal ‒ like minerals, drugs, fertilizer, transit goods and fuel, and the impact on the political and economic stability of borderlands. Nangarhar borders Pakistan and Nimroz borders Iran and Pakistan. 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 leveling of accusations of drugs trafficking at political opponents that has been seen in much of the official and scholarly literature.