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2,000 hectares of land cleared of poppies in Herat: officials
Around 2,000 hectares of poppy fields have been cleared in recent months in Afghanistan’s western Herat province, officials said Monday.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) in April announced a ban on the cultivation of poppy in Afghanistan.
“If anyone violates the decree the crop will be destroyed immediately and the violator will be treated according to the sharia law,” a decree issued by IEA’s Supreme Leader Hebatullah Akhundzada read.
Speaking at a ceremony to celebrate World Drug Day, Hayatullah Rouhani, head of counter-narcotics unit of the provincial police in Herat, assured the public of a serious fight against the cultivation and trafficking of narcotics.
He also said rehabilitation programs for drug addicts in the province was ongoing.
“Experience shows that the drug addiction rate will not decrease unless we round up drug dealers,” Rouhani said. “We have carried out nearly 250 operations in which we rounded up a large number of drug dealers and referred them for prosecution.”
Syed Mohammad Sadat, a provincial health official, said that IEA was seeking to fundamentally include drug addiction rehabilitation in the country’s public health system.
Around 70,000 drug addicts are estimated to be in Herat, mostly living on the streets and in recreation parks.
“They have a wife and children. There is no one without a family. They are addicted due to unemployment. I studied for 12 years, but look I have been forced to live on the street,” said Nazir Ahmad, one drug addict in Herat.
Experts say poverty, unemployment and easy availability of drugs have contributed to the rise in drug addiction.
Counternarcotic police say more than 200 people have been arrested in Herat on charges of drug dealing during the past 10 months. Over 1,000 kilograms of drug have been seized from them.
The first shipment of Iran’s humanitarian aid to the flood victims in Afghanistan arrived on Thursday in Balkh province.
Razia Alishondi, the vice president of international affairs of the Red Crescent Society of Iran, has announced that the aid packages have been sent to Afghanistan within the framework of humanitarian cooperation.
Local officials in Balkh province have stated that the plane carrying aid packages, including food, medicine, carpets, blankets and tents, landed at Mazar-e- Sharif airport on Thursday.
This comes after several provinces of Afghanistan, including Baghlan, Ghor and Faryab, have witnessed devastating and deadly floods during the last two weeks. As a result of these floods, in addition to huge financial losses, hundreds of people have been killed and injured.
Local officials in Faryab and Sar-e-Pul say 15 people died, a large part of agricultural land was damaged and dozens of houses were destroyed due to flash floods in these two provinces.
The floods killed five members of a family in Kohistanat district of Sar-e-Pul province. At the same time, in Faryab province, 10 people were killed and 11 others injured, and dozens of houses and more than 50 acres of agricultural land were destroyed, local officials said.
The most damage has been done to the people of Lolash district of Faryab province.
However, local officials said that floods have hampered the flow of UN food aid to remote areas.
Meanwhile, the World Food Program (WFP) says that floods have destroyed roads and bridges in affected areas in Afghanistan, making it difficult to transport food aid.
WFP stated that it has provided food aid to 20,000 victims across Afghanistan so far.
Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) says it has been about a month since T1 fuel [aircraft fuel] has not been imported to Afghanistan. The chamber expressed concern, saying that the Islamic Emirate should resolve this issue and should ask Turkmenistan to allow Afghan traders to import the fuel into the country.
ACCI officials added that the oil purchase contract was signed with Turkmenistan and the money was also transferred, but that country does not allow the oil to enter Afghanistan.
IEA’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, meanwhile, said that they have looked at this problem and want the matter to be addressed through the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
According to ACCI officials, not only Turkmenistan does not allow the entry of aircraft fuel, but they also have problems in transporting food, and they want the IEA to share the issue with Turkmenistan to solve it.
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