Fresh revelations have exposed how profits from the cross-border narcotics trade are financing militancy in Khyber’s Tirah Valley, with reports suggesting that drug traffickers, militants, and local political actors form a powerful nexus sustaining instability in the region.
Sources said Afghan-origin narcotics are being moved through remote routes in Khyber district under the protection of local facilitators, with proceeds channelled to militant factions operating in the tribal belt. The network, they added, is structured to ensure both the movement of drugs into settled areas and the financing of terrorist operations.
Around 12,000 acres of land in Tirah and adjoining parts of Khyber are believed to be under poppy cultivation, generating profits ranging between Rs1.8 and Rs2.5 million per acre. “A significant share of this income is given to militant commanders, who in return safeguard smuggling routes and camps,” a source said.
Officials described the arrangement as part of a “political-terror-crime nexus” that has long shielded drug operations and obstructed security actions in the area. “This unholy alliance benefits from the region’s rugged terrain and political influence to sustain its activities,” an insider remarked.
Nearly 200 people have been killed or injured this year in terror-related incidents across Khyber district, losses that observers link to the same network financing extremist groups through narcotics revenue. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies have now begun mapping the financial and logistical routes of this narco-terror economy to dismantle its operations and cut off its funding sources.
