Tajikistan - Afghanistan border, 2000

I developed this project at the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan in two periods, on 2000 and eight years later. Under commitment of the United Nations Office for Drug and Crime I went to the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan on 2000 to witness the huge and still unknown, drug traffic: tonnes of tonnes of white powder crossed the river continually, to be sold right across central Asia, Russia and Europe. At that time, although the independence reached by Tajikistan in 1991, Russia kept total control of the border with Afghanistan through special troops of keen and well trained soldiers. They fought drug smugglers using any methods, including torture. Tajikistan was, and still is, a poor country and the heroin traffic represents for many people the only subsistence source.