Cpharm to set up hashish-processing plant in Afghanistan’

KABUL (Pajhwok): Cpharm will invest $450 million in setting up a hashish-processing plant in Afghanistan, an official said on Wednesday.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Qari Saeed Khosti said certain medicines and creams would be manufactured by the hashish-processing factory.

Representatives of the Germany-based firm met counternarcotic officials at the Ministry of Interior on the issue, he added.

Talks with the company on the establishment of the plant have concluded and practical work on the project will begin soon. Hundreds of people will get work opportunities on the project.

A Cpharm representative said hashish is currently grown on 10,000 acres of land in Afghanistan. The company needs the hashish crop on 15,000 acres of land.

About the ban on hashish cultivation in the country, Khosti said: “It is grown nationwide and we want to set a legal framework for sowing this illicit crop.”

Hashish cultivation has also been legalised by some other nations for use in manufacture of certain medicines.

nh/mud