Ghaith Abdul-Ahad of the The Guardian interviews an Afghani smuggler:
“We can do around 50 kilos per week, and it’s increasing,” he said. “Two years ago we only smuggled heroin from the local area.” Opium grown locally in Badakhshan was processed into heroin in labs in the area, then transported across the border to Tajikistan, he said. A kilo of heroin in Afghanistan was worth $2,500; in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, it was worth $5,000. “In Moscow,” he said, “they say that a kilo of heroin can make a hundred thousand dollars.”Hekmat also receives drugs from other parts of Afghanistan: with the war being fought so hard in the south, smugglers from those regions were looking for new routes for their produce. However, even in this small border town in northern Afghanistan, he is feeling the pinch of the global economic crisis.
“Heroin was very good last year, but there is a crisis in the economy all over the world, so there is less demand coming from Russia and Europe.”
He drew deeply on his joint and held the smoke. When he breathed out his eyes disappeared momentarily behind a haze of hashish.
This is the portion that interests David Hambling of Wired‘s Danger Room:
“The fortunes are to be made in weapons,” he said. “Prices are doing very well. If you bring in $20,000-worth over a month, you can make a profit of $5,000.”Kalashnikovs, I presumed.
“No, Kalashnikovs are very cheap. They cost only $400. Sometimes the Tajiks buy them from us and we get them from the Chinese. But it’s the Kalakov everyone wants.” Kalakov is the Afghan name for a new model of Kalashnikov that is lighter and uses smaller bullets.
“The Taliban like it because it pierces body armour.” Hekmat tapped at his chest to demonstrate and showed me a small bullet. “They cost $700 in Dushanbe and we sell them for $1,100. There is an extra charge of $150 if you want the weapons delivered in the south.”
If he was paid the extra, Hekmat would arrange for them to be taken to Baghlan province north of Kabul, to be handed over to the southern Taliban.
“The prices are so high now, a year ago the same Kalokov sold for $700 in Afghanistan.”
As Hambling notes, this should come as no surprise:
The Soviets designed the 5.45mm round specifically to fight against Western armies who might have body armor, and have upgraded the standard bullets since its introduction in 1974. The original bullet had a mild steel core and a lead tip; a harder steel core was introduced in 1987 and this was enlarged in 1992 to create the 7N10 “improved penetration” round. This will punch through a Kevlar vest, but not hard ceramic inserts.The AK-74 round has better penetration than the Russian 7.62×39mm round it replaced, as well as improved accuracy. This Japanese video shows that it also penetrates better than a 5.56mm from an M16A1 — but only in wood, which doesn’t tell us anything about armor-piercing properties.
He considers it ironic that insurgents are considering moving from a 7.62mm round to a smaller round, while US troops are considering moving from their small 5.56mm round to a 7.62mm round — but the US troops aren’t facing foes in body armor.