The United Nations Drug Control Programme and the Centre for International Crime Prevention, (UNODC) say it will support the rehabilitation program of drug addicts in Afghanistan, by covering 24 addicts’ treatment centers, state-run Bakhtar agency reported.

The UNODC will provide food, heating equipment, health materials, and medicine for these centers.

Currently, 3.5 million, which is about 10% of the total population of Afghanistan, are drug addicts, according to UNODC.

The UNODC will support these centers for at least six months.

The UNODC Office in Afghanistan, sharing reports says that the amount of land under poppy cultivation in Afghanistan in 2001 was about 8 thousand hectares, but after the US attack on Afghanistan, the upward trend of drug production in this country not only did not stop, but it gained speed and in 2017, the land under poppy cultivation increased to 224 thousand hectares.

With the re-establishment of the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan, poppy cultivation has been banned in this country, and those who disobey this order will be punished.

The Islamic Emirate put an end to the gathering of thousands of addicts from around Kabul mainly Pul-Sokhta, which for many years was the solitary life of addicts and the hot market for buying and dealing drugs in the capital, thousands of addicts were gathered from Kabul and other cities and sent to clinics.

In recent days, the security forces have stabilized poppy cultivation fields in different parts of the country, and thousands of acres of land where poppy was cultivated have been destroyed so far.

The Islamic Emirate is committed to eradicating addiction in the country and ending poppy cultivation, and it follows this commitment seriously.

Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, deputy prime minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, said at a cabinet meeting this week that the ministry of public works has been tasked with drawing up a plan to build separate mosques for men and women across the country.

These mosques will be built at intervals of 100 kms along major highways across the country, he said.

He said the mosques will also be built at fuel stations on highways.

In addition, Akhund said the ministries of interior and defense and the general directorate of intelligence have been ordered to inspect the granting of licenses to people for weapons and armored vehicles.

The foreign minister says the Islamic Emirate’s relations with all the neighboring countries and the region are going well, but the country’s relations with Western countries have some problems.

In an interview with an Arabic TV channel, Amir Khan Muttaqi said currently the embassies of neighboring countries and the region are open in Kabul, and the diplomats of the IEA are accepted in many countries.

“Currently, the embassies of neighboring countries and the region such as China, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Russia are open in Kabul,” said Muttaqi.

“Also, India, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Qatar have diplomatic activities, and in addition, the diplomats of the Islamic Emirate are accepted and active in many of these countries. It should be said that Afghanistan has no problems in its relations with neighboring countries and the region, and we only have problems in relations with Western countries,” he added.

Muttaqi criticized America’s interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs, which is against the Doha Agreement, but he emphasized that their meetings continue to help improve relations with the US and progress has been made.

“At the moment, we have relations with the United States, our meetings continue and various and important issues are discussed, and we have many good developments with them,” he said.

He meanwhile emphasized that IEA is in favor of good relations and positive interactions with the international community, but the world should not set preconditions for interaction with the Islamic Emirate.