Khaama Press: Noor who is leading Jamiat-e-Islami party, harshly criticized the way funds were spent on counter-narcotics campaigns in Afghanistan, saying he will not taken any actions in areas under his control. He said the international community has spent over $7.8 billion to prevent the cultivation and smuggle of opium in the country over a period of
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty March 13, 2016 Viktor Ivanov, the head of Russian’s Federal Narcotics Control Service visited Islamabad March 27 to discuss combating the illegal drug trade with his Pakistani counterpart Syed Shakeel Hussain. Hussain said recently cultivation of opium poppies in the northeastern areas of Afghanistan, along the border with Tajikistan, has risen
Tolo News: A drug rehabilitation center in Afghanistan is using new in-house techniques to treat drug addicts. Officials at the center said that one of the new ways for rehabilitation of drug addicts is ‘in-house medication’. They added that they are using new effective drug rehabilitation techniques in order to prevent them from relapsing. Click here to read
Huffington Post: After fighting the longest war in its history, the United States stands at the brink of defeat in Afghanistan. How can this be possible? How could the world’s sole superpower have battled continuously for 15 years, deploying 100,000 of its finest troops, sacrificing the lives of 2,200 of those soldiers, spending more than a
The New York Times: Mullah Rashid is just one of dozens of senior Taliban leaders who are so enmeshed in the drug trade that it has become difficult to distinguish the group from a dedicated drug cartel. While the Taliban have long profited from the taxation and protection of the drug trade in Afghanistan, insurgents are
The New York Times: More than ever, Afghan government officials have become directly involved in the opium trade, expanding their competition with the Taliban beyond politics and into a struggle for control of the drug traffic and revenue. At the local level, the fight itself can often look like a turf war between drug gangs, even
Tolo News: Local officials in Nangarhar said Wednesday that most farmers in the eastern province have resumed poppy cultivation in their areas, accusing government of focusing on security issues rather than assisting them in agriculture. “Poppies have been cultivated in 12 districts in Nangarhar over the past year. We are trying to stop the trend with
Press TV (Published on Feb 1, 2016): Drug addiction has become a big challenge to Afghanistan, as the number of people taking opiates keeps growing there. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crimes, around two-point-nine million Afghans are now addicted to opium. Press TV reporter in Kabul, Fayez Khorshid, says the Afghan government
Pepe Escobar via Counter Punch: In the end, everything comes back to Helmand. Why Helmand? My Pashtun interlocutors loosen up and say it with a mouthful: it’s all about the involvement of the CIA in the heroin trade in Afghanistan; “The Americans simply can’t let it go.” Click here to read more (external link).