Poppy has been eliminated from approximately 40,000 acres of land in the Badakhshan province in the previous three months, according to Khaama Press, citing Shafiqullah Hafizi, the director of the region’s counter-narcotics police department.
“The poppy eradication campaign began three months ago, and we have destroyed 40,000 acres of poppy so far, and the process will continue until the poppy fields in the province are completely demolished,” Hafizi said. The official also anticipated that the anti-poppy campaign will be over soon.
Earlier, on Wednesday, a drug processing lab was destroyed by police in the Jawzjan province of northern Afghanistan, and the owner was taken into custody, Khaama Press reported.
In the eastern province of Ghazni, authorities destroyed 20 acres of poppies last week.
Saeed Iravani, the permanent representative of Iran to the UN, said earlier that the UNSC had expressed concern about the growth of drug production in Afghanistan.
The UN representative for Iran stated that although drug trafficking has decreased somewhat in Afghanistan, it is still a thriving industry, according to Khaama Press.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in a report earlier, said Afghanistan continued to account for the “majority (80 per cent) of global illicit opium production in 2022.”
According to a second UNODC research, Afghanistan has an estimated 3.5 million drug users, accounting for approximately 10% of the overall population.
“Since the political transition in August 2021, most drug treatment and rehabilitation centers in the country have struggled to remain operational due to resource constraints,” according to the research.