KABUL - The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) observed World No Tobacco Day on Sunday by promoting an initiative to curtail the illegal tobacco trade and decrease the overall level of use in Afghanistan.

According to ministry officials, the proliferation of smuggled tobacco products is in part why smoking has become cheap and prevalent across Afghanistan. They expressed particular concern about the increase of underage kids smoking cigarettes.

The MoPH has released the results of a study indicating 23 percent of students between the ages of 13 to 15 smoke in Afghanistan.

"Unfortunately, easy access to tobacco and cigarettes has resulted in increased numbers of consumers," Deputy Minister of Public Health Ahmad Jan Naeem said. "Most of these items enter the market through illegal trade," he added.

Speaking to TOLONews about tobacco smuggling, a number of salesmen explained some of the new trends in the market. "This tobacco is taken to different provinces like Badakhshan, Takhar and other provinces, where snuff is produced from it," explained Mangal, a tobacco salesman in Kabul.

"In the past, a box of snuff was 10 Afghanis, but now its 25 Afghanis and is sold even more," a cigarette peddler named Ajmal said.

However, health experts universally agree that the health risks of tobacco use are serious and abundant. "Use of tobacco products in general would result in respiratory and digestive diseases and will result in different types of cancer," Dr. Muhammad Naser Sharifi said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called the illegal trade of tobacco a major challenge for combating tobacco use in developing countries.

"Illegal trade of tobacco products such as cigarettes and snuff happens in all Mediterranean countries. Every year, $40 billion USD is earned from the illegal trade of tobacco," WHO representative Sophia told TOLONews. "In some countries, this trade makes up to the 50 percent of the market share, but there are no figures regarding tobacco trade in Afghanistan."

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has said that the government has increased the tariff on tobacco products, especially cigarettes, in order to discourage use.

"In order to decrease use of cigarettes, the government has increased the tax to 20 percent on cigarettes and 10 percent on other tobacco products like snuff," MoF spokesman Abdul Qader Jeelani said on Sunday. "If the government requires, we can increase the tax even more." (Tolonews)