.
.
.
Foreign forces support drug business in Afghanistan
By Presstv.com
Reports say foreign
forces are supporting the drug business in Afghanistan by facilitating
the illegal import of preparatory materials into the country.
Iran’s anti-drug police announced in early December that about 700 tons of heroin are produced in Afghanistan every year, which requires an annual import of 13,000 tons of preparatory materials.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) also reports that narcotics production and drug smuggling have increased in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.
The office announced in a recent report that some 95 percent of the drugs are cultivated in the southern and eastern provinces of Afghanistan which are mainly controlled by American and British forces.
Official statistics indicate that the largest amounts of illicit drugs are produced in the five provinces of Badghis, Farah, Helmand, Kandahar, and Uruzgan, which are also the most insecure regions of Afghanistan.
UNODC Executive Director Yuri Fedotov said in May 2012 that Afghanistan achieved only “modest” success in eradicating the drug and Afghan officials should make “meaningful efforts” to tackle drug production in the country.
