The Ministry of Counternarcotics has for the first time emphasized on the need for will to go after bigwig drug smugglers across the country. In a press conference on Wednesday, Minister Zarar Muqbil said several drug smugglers were arrested during last year and some bigwigs in government offices will be arrested.
Strangely, the Ministry has a ‘new strategy’ to arrest drug smugglers henceforth. Why talking about it now? The Government lacked political will and seriousness about the fight against poppy cultivation and drug smuggling for the plain fact that some influential people in power corridor are involved in it. Now that the Counternarcotics Ministry has talked of a ‘strategy’ to arrest smugglers, we hope it will not remain to be a mere rhetoric, rather concrete actions will be taken. The smugglers and mafia network is not any highly secretive operatives. Most of them are known to the security and intelligence institutions, but the will to go after them must come from the top level of power in the Government Administration.
Mr. Muqbil made it clear that almost near to all of the poppy cultivation is in Helmand, Farah and Nimroz provinces. After years of ‘efforts’ and claims, it is for the first time that the Ministry has announced to have a formal ‘strategy’ to identify and target drug smugglers. It is a welcome move and must be followed with full commitment and will from top level in the Government.
According to a recently released UN Opium Risk Assessment report on Afghanistan, the poppy production has been on record high in third consecutive year. The report details alarming picture that poppy cultivation is not only expected to expand in areas where it already existed in 2012 but also in new areas or in areas where poppy cultivation was stopped. Villages with a low level of security and those which had not received agricultural assistance in the previous year were significantly more likely to grow poppy in 2013.
The percentage of increase shows an alarming situation, particularly at a time when the country is in transition. The UN report says Afghan efforts to stamp out opium poppy cultivation are failing. More help is needed to provide alternatives to farmers, in law enforcement support and in cooperation from other countries in the region.
It has been obvious that curb on narcotics has not been a priority for the international community in Afghanistan. As Mr. Muqbil rightly said, unless there are strong effort international and regional efforts, Afghanistan will continue to remain the top poppy producing country in the world.