Golden Crescent
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Golden Crescent is the name given to Asia’s principal area of illicit opium production, located at the crossroads of Central, South, and Western Asia. This space overlaps three nations, Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan, whose mountainous peripheries define the crescent. In 1991, Afghanistan became the world’s primary opium producer, with a yield of 1,782 metric tons (U.S. State Department estimates), surpassing Burma (Myanmar), formerly the world leader in opium production. The Golden Crescent has a much longer history of opium production than does Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle, even though the Golden Crescent emerged as a modern-day opium-producing entity only in the 1970s, after the Golden Triangle did so in the 1950s (See, for further details on the Golden Crescent (and the Golden Triangle): "Geopium: Geopolitics of Illicit Drugs in Asia").
Recent usage
In recent times, the term 'Golden Crescent' has been sometimes used in reference to the areas of Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and a few central asian countries like Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan etc. This 'expanded' Golden Crescent however has nothing to do with opium trade. It is mostly used in reference to the countries through which major oil and gas pipelines are likely to be laid in the future. These oil and gas pipelines are expected to supply most of the interior asian countries like India, China and Mongolia. The strategic geographic location of the predominantly Islamic countries in the expanded Golden Crescent is likely to give these countries significant bargaining power in international trade negotiations in the future.
