Iran welcomes halting drug production in Afghanistan

According to the order, the use, transfer, sale, purchase, import, export, and production of any drugs (opium, hash, methamphetamine, and wine) are prohibited throughout Afghanistan.
The Secretary-General of Iran's Drug Control Headquarters Eskandar Momeni said on Monday that the Islamic Republic of Iran held all necessary consultations with the international community in the past and present to address the issue of alternative cultivation for people's livelihoods and the reduction of narcotics production in Afghanistan.
Taliban's decree comes as the production and cultivation of narcotics in Afghanistan have increased unprecedentedly during the 20 years of the US presence in the country, such that it supplies 90% of the world's opium.
According to the UN, in 2000 the production of narcotics in Afghanistan fell below 200 tons and the area under cultivation was about 7,000 hectares, but as NATO and the US invaded Afghanistan, in less than two decades the production of narcotics increased by 50 times, reaching 9,000 tons, he said.
Momeni noted that the US helped develop poppy cultivation in Afghanistan with the provision of high-yielding and bred seeds, smuggling the narcotics through NATO aircraft.
As the Iranian anti-narcotics top official said, more than 90 percent of the world's opium is produced in Afghanistan, according to official figures from the UN and the Taliban, because the US is far from the region and was not directly influenced by the issue, it expanded drug cultivation in Afghanistan, using it as means to insecure the region.