The collapse of the Soviet Union led to significant geopolitical changes throughout the post-Soviet space. The newly formed states were left to themselves in the matter of state-building, which was carried out through full-scale reforms of the entire vital activity of the state. At the same time, the new political entities had to face certain challenges standing in the way of nation-building, among which the problem of illegal drug trade and drug trafficking was not the least. Due to its geographical location, the Central Asian states directly bordering the main drug economy of the world – Afghanistan - were the most affected by it. The infrastructure that has existed since Soviet times has allowed for a few years to establish a «northern route» of drug trafficking passing through the countries of the region to Russia and Europe. Decades of the existence of Afghan drug trafficking have led to serious changes in Kyrgyzstan, expressed in the form of an increase in drug crime and crimes committed under the influence of drugs, the formation of allpowerful drug cartels capable of promoting their interests through government officials and law enforcement agencies. The strongest blow for the population of the republic was the rapid increase in drug addicts and the spread of HIV/AIDS. An identical picture has developed in the neighboring countries of Kyrgyzstan, which contributed to both intraregional and international cooperation with the assistance of various international organizations. The measures taken contributed to curbing the Afghan drug expansion and to a certain extent were able to change the situation for the better.
Afghanistan; Central Asia; Kyrgyzstan; Tajikistan; drug trafficking; drug addiction; opiates; heroin.