KABUL (SW): Abdullah Abdullah, the Chief Executive Officer while urging the international community to cooperate, pronounced the narcotics trade and poppy cultivation as serious challenges to the stability of Afghanistan.
He was addressing a moot in line with the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking via video link. Abdullah vowed that the government is determined to resolve this issue.
Officials at the Ministry of Counter-Narcotics (MCN) claimed on the occasion that poppy cultivation has decreased by 19 percent since the establishment of the Government of National Unity.
They said that Afghanistan is still considered as one of the top opium producing countries in the world as Kandahar and Helmand provinces witnessed a significant increase in poppy cultivation recently.
Hanif Danishyar, spokesman for the ministry said that the illicit narcotics trade generates $ 70 million each year that sparks violence and instability. Hasibullah Kalimzai, the second deputy at the Wolesi Jirga (lower house), said on the occasion that unfortunately Afghanistan is charged with supplying 70 percent of the narcotics available across the world.
Officials at the MCN further said that there are nearly 3 million addicts across the country out of which 800 thousand are women and 1 million more are young men. The officials went on to say that there are 101 rehabilitation centers working for the addicts but are not enough considering the number of drug users.
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