Over 3 million Afghans manufacturing, and trafficking drugs

KABUL): The Deputy Interior Minister of Counter Narcotics said on Monday that over three million Afghans, based mostly in the provinces, are involved in manufacturing or trafficking drugs.

The deputy minister, Baz Mohammad Ahmadi, told a press conference that the Counter Narcotics Ministry has nevertheless made remarkable progress toward dismantling Afghanistan’s drug industry. Calling the Counter Narcotics Ministry an international phenomenon, he promised: “We will do our best to stop the manufacture and trafficking of drugs.”

He asked for the International Community’ support in further operations against the drug industry, especially in Afghanistan’s border provinces. He said that it was important to strengthen the counter-narcotics police’s ability to combat drugs independently as they prepare to assume autonomy from international forces in 2014.

He said that 95 percent of Afghan drugs are consumed outside of Afghanistan, especially in neighboring countries, and that the international community therefore had a responsibility to help Afghanistan build its counter-narcotics capacity. Iran in particular is a key channel for Afghan drugs on their way to Europe.

Ahmadi said that Iran is eager for the counter-narcotics police to receive better training. He added that Russia, China, and Turkey had been assisting the Afghan police, in Russia’s case for several years.

He said that the Counter Narcotics Ministry had launched workshops and was trying to develop a counter-narcotics academy with the assistance of the international community.

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