A Matter of Survival.

For a while, growing rice, wheat and the odd poppy crop were enough to support Haji Jamal and the 45 members of his extended family. But when the medical bills started piling up three years ago, Jamal had to turn to crime. He began cutting the cedar trees near his mud-brick compound, selling them to wood smugglers for $10 per meter. "When you look in your house and see there's no tea, no sugar and nothing to eat, you have to do something to survive," says 55-year-old Jamal, flicking at a string of wooden prayer beads. "The people in our region don't cut wood for fun."

In a country as wounded as Afghanistan, environmental concerns might seem a luxury--a concern to be saved for calmer times. But the country's burgeoning wood racket--like drugs and arms smuggling--is a lucrative business for criminal outfits looking to make money in war- torn regions. Since the fall of the Taliban, legitimate businesses have been slow to get off the ground in Afghanistan. But illegal logging has boomed, largely because of the central government's limited authority outside Kabul. Hardwood--pine and cedar--has been among Afghanistan's most profitable exports over the past two decades. Now increasingly sophisticated smuggling operations, which bring their timber to market in Asia or the Gulf, can rake in 20 times the original price on a cord of wood. "Wood smuggling is huge," says Shafiqullah, a Customs officer in Jalalabad. "The drug trade pales in comparison."

Poverty is perhaps the most powerful recruiter for these illegal operations. "People come to us and ask for schools and medical clinics," says Alain de Bures of Madera, a French NGO sponsoring a reforestation program in Kunar province. "When no help comes, they sign contracts with smugglers and cut wood." Wealthy businessmen--Afghans or Pakistanis--buy large chunks of land and ...