The Counter Narcotics Department of Herat province, located in the west of Afghanistan, launched a campaign against poppy cultivation. This was reported Thursday by TOLO news, citing law enforcement officials.
"Our operation is in progress, hundreds of acres of land have been cleared of poppies in various areas," the channel quoted the head of Herat's Counter Narcotics Department, Hayatullah Rouhani, as saying.
As TOLO news points out, the campaign to eradicate poppy fields started shortly before the beginning of the harvest season. It is noted that the anti-narcotics officers are accompanied by special forces.
According to the channel, the farmers in Herat province called on the interim government of Afghanistan formed by the radical Taliban movement (banned in the Russian Federation) to help them with the cultivation of alternative crops. Poppy eradication operations are also carried out in Ghor and Badghis provinces in western Afghanistan and Nimroz in the south-west of the country.
Despite the fact that on April 3, 2022, Supreme Leader of the Taliban Haybatullah Akhundzada signed a decree banning the cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan, the use and transportation of all kinds of drugs, as well as their trade, the production of narcotic substances in the country has only increased. Opium poppy production in Afghanistan increased 32 percent from 2021, according to data released Nov. 1 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The UNODC report noted that Afghanistan covers 80 percent of global opium demand.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
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Based on materials from TASS