Envoy Calls For Regional, Int'l Efforts To Counter Drug Trafficking

Kabul, Jan 28, IRNA – Iranian ambassador to Afghanistan, Mohammad-Reza Bahrami, said Tuesday that campaign against drug-trafficking requires regional and international cooperation. Bahrami told a meeting of the countries neighboring Afghanistan in Kabul that international cmapaign against drug-trafficking needs coordination in police operations of the neighboring countries. Political resolve among all the regional governments is the only way out of the dilemma of drug-trafficking, the ambassador said. Bahrami voiced readiness of the Islamic Republic of Iran to train the Afghan anti-narcotic police, cure addicts and boost customs cooperation with Kabul. In the meantime, Afghan Minister of Counter-Narcotics, Mubarez Rashedi, described narcotics as a global concern, calling on all countries to play their part in international campaign against narcotics. Rashedi appreciated the Afghan neighbors border cooperation to fight drug trafficking. The Afghan minister said that poppy cultivation has made growth in Afghanistan mainly as a result of insecurity and rise in global demand to illicit drugs. He said that according to the latest statistics, anti-government armed groups, terrorists and Afghan and foreign traffickers earn some $500 million annually from drug-trafficking./end