Camp Phoenix: Inside Afghanistan's Heroin Hell

This short documentary takes viewers inside Camp Phoenix, a former U.S. military base in Kabul that was converted into a large drug rehabilitation centre and is now part of the Ibn Sina addiction treatment system. Through on-the-ground footage, interviews, and firsthand accounts, independent reporter Akshay documents Afghanistan's ongoing addiction crisis and the challenges facing treatment services following the Taliban's return to power in 2021.

The film also follows Babrak, a former mujahideen fighter and recovering addict who helps people undergoing treatment despite severe shortages of staff, medication, and resources. Alongside the stories of those seeking recovery, the documentary explores how decades of war, poverty, unemployment, and widespread drug availability have contributed to Afghanistan's addiction crisis while highlighting those working to provide support under extraordinarily difficult circumstances.

What Happened to Camp Phoenix?

The former Camp Phoenix site featured in this documentary is officially known as Ibn Sina Drug Addiction Treatment Hospital and has also been referred to locally as Omid Camp, or "Camp of Hope." Since the documentary was released, reports have continued to raise concerns about Afghanistan's compulsory drug rehabilitation system, including allegations of forced detention, inadequate medical care, food shortages, physical abuse, and compulsory labour.

In March 2026, the rehabilitation centre was struck during Pakistani airstrikes on Kabul, causing extensive destruction and killing and injuring patients and staff. Pakistan maintained that it had targeted military and terrorist infrastructure, while Afghan authorities said the drug treatment facility was struck. A later Amnesty International investigation found no evidence that the facility was being used for military purposes and called for an independent investigation into the attack.

Additional Resources:

"The Taliban is bringing addicts to Camp Phoenix rehabilitation, one of Kabul's largest rehabilitation centers with 1,000 beds. This rehabilitation camp once was a US military base. In 2015, as a part of a broader effort to combat the rising addiction crisis, the then Afghan government converted it into a rehabilitation center. However, since the Taliban's takeover, all international funding has been halted, and Afghanistan's foreign assets have been frozen. As a result, addicts are now brought to this camp which operates with little to no treatment facilities."

"We are happy being collected. We became human from garbage. We were really not a human. We didn't know whether we were human or animal. Half our life was spent in high and other half of our life was spent in a hangover. We don't know how our life is spent."

"Afghanistan: a nation that has endured over 40 years of war. The two-decade long conflict between NATO and the Taliban left the country in ruins … Decades of war have fueled extreme poverty and widespread unemployment. At the same time, the period saw an exponential rise in Afghanistan's illegal poppy production, generating billions of dollars. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (2023) report, 80% of the world's illicit opium supply is smuggled across borders into Russia, China, Europe, and North America."¹

"As an Afghan, it's really sad for me to see my people suffering from these kinds of bad situations. They are living under really, really bad conditions under the bridge and this is the result of war in Afghanistan for 20 years. NATO and their allies and other countries came to Afghanistan. USA invaded Afghanistan and brought all these results and situations ... see what they did to my people."

"The Taliban government claims that since Islam strictly prohibits substance use, it is committed to eradicating addiction across all 34 provinces of Afghanistan."

"This center struggles to provide even the most basic medical care. Those undergoing recovery often experience difficult withdrawal symptoms and the lack of medicines makes it harder for them to heal."