Afghan government is worried about the spiraling rate of opium cultivation and its trafficking which is partly fuelled by foreign military withdrawal. Baz Mohammad Ahmadi, deputy to ministry of interior, on Saturday told that attention was being paid on decreasing opium cultivation. In a press meeting, he told to journalist that he was worried after foreign military withdrawal in 2014, the support of international community for drug-combat would face a visible drop.

He also added that foreign security forces were directly involved in combating drug trafficking as well as poppy cultivation while Afghan National Forces would not participate in struggle on elimination of poppy cultivation. “Without serious fighting poppy cultivation, opium

production and drug trafficking will increase tremendously”. He also briefly talked about anti-drug combat, saying 32000 operations held, 469 tons of various kinds of drugs seized, and 231 people, including 19 foreign citizens, arrested.

Previously, the ministry had announced that overall value of drug-business has reached to 70 billion dollars annually, major part of which flows down to the pocket of international mafia.

Day by day, addiction is also increasing. Walking in the Kabul city, it is unlikely not encounter tens of drug addicts who look so pitiful.

The challenge narcotics deal to the country is parallel to above fellows and necessitates serious attention to be eliminated. It does not cause less misery than Taliban-insurgency if it goes on current path. According to statistics more than 1.5 million Afghans are addicted to opium or to products made of it, like hashish, heroin.

The report also predicted that it might increase in upcoming years. It is hard to understand that what addiction means if you have not seen those who are addicted.  Many of them are left out in the public and certainly a number of them lost lives in the harsh freezing weather in winter.

Along with the human tragedy that hundreds die due to addiction annually, it also increases social crimes.  In Herat Province there is a huge number of addicted refugees who are deported from Iran. Whatever is the reason, huge number of Afghan refugees in Iran is addicted to drugs, particularly, those youngsters who left the country without their family members. When the Iranian security forces deport them to Afghanistan, many of them have no place to go, because with carrying the sickness of addiction, they do not dare to go back to their homes, and stay with his family members or, perhaps, some feel shy to do so.

In addition, the problem is doubled as the culture of Afghanistan does not accept and treat the addicts properly. In Afghanistan the problem of addiction differs with those in developed

or perhaps in developing countries. Many people in the world consume drugs as kind of luxurious goods, and they have money and wealth to buy it and, meanwhile, essential goods are guaranteed. The case is quite different here. Addiction has mostly targeted lower layer of the society, who are involved in cultivating and growing opium. Or those who became refugees to neighboring countries and could not bear the back-breaking problem of refugee life. So, in order to avoid those challenges, they find no way other than reprimanding nerves in order

not to feel the psychological pain.

Additionally, poverty prevails in the country, and annually many people die due to hunger. Majority of those who use drugs are illiterate. They cannot search for office jobs, which is comparatively inconvenient for such people. Thus, they remain parasite. When all doors are

closed, they steal, rob and thus turn to other social evils. It means threatening the safety of people’s property. If the number was less, there would not be any reason to panic but the fact is the number is staggering and more unfortunate is the fact that it keeps in rising.

There are even reports that some of the members of law enforcement agencies themselves are involved in using drugs and they instead of stopping the process become part of it and even help the process in gaining strength.

It is really important that the Afghan authorities and the people of Afghanistan must rise to the occasion and take concrete steps to eradicate this evil and save the coming generations from this curse, otherwise it would be too late to mend.