ABSTRACT
Outsiders capitalize on the opium addiction epidemic, exploiting it as a weapon and a means of resource coercion in order to acquire land, food and people. Since the 1950s and likely much earlier families throughout Badakhshan have resorted to selling land, crops, and even children to repay opium debts. This chapter provides three case studies of the Wakhan Corridor: Wakhan-e Bala, Khandud and Wakhan-e Payan, to describe the impact opium has on the daily lives of the people. Opium's enduring impact on the lives of the villagers in the border region has reached into every household. Moreover, the opium trade parallels the asymmetric and shifting power relationships in the region and provides a window into the daily lives, the leadership, and the social organization of the villages. Informal institutions and organizations largely control local politics and economics but are linked together by officially sanctioned political institutions such as the Shurra Council.
