Anti-poppy campaign concludes in Nangarhar

JALALABAD (PAN): The illicit poppy crop over 450 hectares of land was destroyed during a 60-day campaign in remote parts of eastern Nangarhar province, an official said on Saturday.

Backed by tribal elders and residents, the campaign was concluded on Saturday, officials said, claiming a disease had already damaged the crop intensively.

The poppy eradication campaign was launched on the first day of the new Afghan year, beginning March 23, in outreach areas of Nangarhar, the governor’s spokesman, Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Poppies cultivated over 450 hectares of land were destroyed in districts including Pachiragam, Sherzad, Khugyani, Sararud, Chaparhar, Lalpuri, Achin and Spinghar during the two-month drive, he said.

He said there had been no untoward incident during the campaign. Almost 80 percent of the crop had contracted disease in the province, he added.

Security officials involved in the campaign claimed they brought the poppy cultivation in Nangarhar to zero level, Abdulzai said.

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