122,000 drug addicts rehabilitated in past 3 years

KABUL (Pajhwok): About 122,000 drug addicts have been rehabilitated and reunited with their families, with 1,350 drug labs destroyed across the country since the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s takeover.

Counter-narcotics Department Director at Ministry of Interior (MoI) Maulvi Hasibullah Ahmadi told Pajhwok Afghan News remarkable efforts had been made since the IEA leadership issued a degree combating drugs in the country.

He said drug cultivation, production and trafficking had been reduced to zero over the past three years or so.

A large quantity of drugs had been seized and destroyed, poppy crops on thousands of acres of land eradicated and many traffickers arrested during the period, he claimed.

About 1,350 drug-processing laboratories have been destroyed and 122,000 addicts reunited with their families after their rehabilitation, the official explained.

In response to a query, he said about 20,000 addicts were being rounded up and providing them with treatment facilities in every three months according to annual plan of MoI counter-narcotics department.

Although the director did not provide details, but MoI spokesman Mufti Abdul Matin Qane had shared on X some information on the occasion of International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

He said 47,879 operations had been conducted by counter-narcotics police across the country since the IEA takeover.

In these operations, he revealed, about 17,240 suspects had been arrested 119 tonnes of various types of drugs seized.

Meanwhile, political analyst Moin Gul Chamkani told Pajhwok narcotics were an international issue and the interim government was committed to banishing the scourge.

Aziz Miraj, another political analyst, told Pajhwok drug cultivation, production and trafficking had been eliminated from the country after re-establishment of IEA.

The interim government had promised the United States in Doha on February 29, 2020 it would combat drugs in Afghanistan, he recollected.

He added the State Department, the United Nations and Russia had also acknowledged the IEA’s campaign against narcotics.

Meanwhile, rehabilitated individuals who have rejoined their relatives are happy to have received care and attention from the authorities.

Hamid Rasouli, an addict, said he turned to drugs when his parents died three years ago. He is happy over being treated at a rehabilitation facility and reunited with his family.

Syed Nazir, another addict, recalled he had started using drugs in Turkey three years ago. He is currently learning tailoring at a rehabilitation centre.

The caretaker government banned drug cultivation, production and trafficking across the country shortly after it returned to power in August 2021.

kk/mud