Opium Season: A Year on the Afghan Frontier

A GOOD IDEA GONE TERRIBLY WRONG.

 “Were getting out, mate.” Charless composure was belied by the taut lines in his face and the two Afghan guards flanking him, their rifles unslung and ready. “Get your things. If what were hearing from Zabul is true, weve been sitting here like bloody ducks for too long already.”

   If true, the rumors from Zabul province confirmed that someone was trying to kill us, but we didnt yet know who: the struggling remnants of the Taliban, opium smugglers who found our work an inconvenience, or local militia commanders with some unknown grudge. We didnt know if they planned more attacks, or if they could strike us in the city of Lashkargah itself. So we were running. There was a small U.S. military outpost on the edge of town, next to the graveyard. By the afternoon our office and staff houses would be empty of everyone but guards, and our Western staff would be inside a bunker.

                                                                                                From the Prologue

Opium Season is the story of a young American working on the brutal fault line where the war on terror meets the war on drugs. Joel Hafvenstein didnt know what he was getting into when he signed up for a year in Afghanistans rugged Helmand Province, the heart of the countrys opium trade. He was running an American-funded aid program with two goals: to help tens of thousands of opium poppy farmers make a legal living, and to win hearts and minds away from the former Taliban government.

The author and his friends were soon caught up in the deadly intrigues of Helmands drug trafficking warlords. He found himself dodging Taliban in poppy-filled mountain ravines and arguing with murderous, AK-47 toting bandits in police uniform. He saw both the stark beauty and the terrible cruelty that Afghans live with every day. At the height of his teams success, the Taliban attacked, killing his colleagues and destroying their work. These ambushes heralded a Taliban resurgence across the country; they also showed the weaknesses in Americas strategy that continue to undermine every American accomplishment in Afghanistan.

This is a riveting story of intrigue, adventure, and tragedy at the far edge of the world. In the tradition of The Places In Between and The Kite Runner, Opium Season examines the odyssey of an American chasing a seemingly impossible goal in the midst of chaos and describes this shattered, beautiful country and its deeply divided people.

Joel Hafvenstein is an international development consultant, an analyst of South and Central Asia, and a writer.  He has written on Afghanistan for The New York Times and Commonweal magazine, and been interviewed on National Public Radio's The Story.  OPIUM SEASON is his first book.