KABUL - A UN Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) has released its survey report indicating that poppy cultivation has risen by 7 percent as compared to 2013 in Afghanistan.
The report released on Wednesday stated the area used for poppy cultivation grew to 224,000 hectares (553,000) acres of land, mostly in the southern part of the country.
The report added the increased cultivation would likely produce 6,400 tons of opium indicating 17 percent rise in opium production.
69 percent of total drugs of Afghanistan are being produced in southern zone, of which, 46 percent is produced in Helmand province, according to the report. Andrey Avetisyan, the UNODC’s regional representative, said, “Our experience not only in Afghanistan but in other parts of the world shows that it works, what is needed for this is political will and readiness of government and the people. Serious counter narcotics measures as a part of a wider economic development, everything must be there.”
The acting minister of counter-narcotics, Din Mohammad Mubariz Rashidi, told a press conference on Wednesday that the fight against drugs will be impossible unless a strong political will against the tragedy comes into being.
“The political intention in the fight against drugs must be revised,” Rashidi said. “The government from its top to the lower level must come to know that Afghanistan can’t achieve peace and stability unless poppy cultivation is eradicated.”
“We arrest drug traffickers but later they are released because there are some high-profile government officials that support drug trafficking and have no intention to fight the tragedy,” Rashidi told reporters
Afghan government officials, however, also criticize the international community for not having a strong will to eradicate poppy cultivation which is believed to be one of greatest financial sources of insurgents.
Afghanistan is said to have been producing world’s 90 percent of drugs. Over $7 billion have been spent so far in the fight against drugs but its cultivation is still on the rise. (Tolonews)