Opium production & smuggling by insurgents in Afghanistan has to be stopped:
Kabul, Oct 24 (UNI) The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has voiced apprehension that following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, terrorist and criminal groups are likely to take advantage of new opportunities to exploit the illicit narcotics trade, and there could be a high surge in attempts at drug trafficking.
UNODC executive director Ghada Waly said opium production and smuggling by insurgent groups has to be stopped in Afghanistan.
“Terrorist and criminal groups are likely to
take advantage of any new opportunities to exploit illicit narcotics, particularly as the situation in Afghanistan develops. Afghanistan already accounted for 85% of the world’s opium production in 2020. In light of recent events, there is an urgent need to prevent illicit flows and exploitative crimes, to stop the country from becoming a haven for terrorists and their resources, and to address expected spillover in neighbouring countries,” she said at a meeting of Commission on Narcotics Drug in Vienna on October 19.
UNODC operations have halted in the country ever since the Taliban takeover on August 15.
In response, the Ministry of Interior Affairs has stated that the cultivation and smuggling of narcotic drugs has “reached zero” in Afghanistan.
Saeed Khosti, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, said: “We have carried out operations in the capital and provinces where we have arrested drug smugglers. The Islamic Emirate is committed to not allowing the cultivation of drugs in Afghanistan and its smuggling to other countries.”
According to Tolo News, analysts have said that opium production and smuggling can increase manifold if not fought effectively. “It is a fact that if we don’t fight against this phenomenon (opium production and smuggling), poverty, misery and the situation in Afghanistan will increase the cultivation of narcotics, and our country will still be among those countries where cultivation has a high percentage,” said Mohammad Khan Andar, an international relations analyst.
In the meantime, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has also raised concerns over “the current and evolving money laundering and terrorist financing risk environment in the country.”
FATF has said that Afghanistan should not become a haven for insurgents and terrorists to find shelter or become a place for creating terrorist training camps, or to finance terrorist activities.
Comments are closed.