DUSHANBE, October 21, 2008, Asia-Plus — Afghan Ministry of Interior has actively cooperated with Tajik colleagues in combating drug trafficking, the First Deputy Afghan Interior Minister, Muhammad Dovud, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
The Afghan interior official arrived in Dushanbe to participate at the Ministerial Conference on Border Management and Drug Control in Central Asia.
“This year alone, we in cooperation with officers from the Tajik counternarcotics agency have carried out 50 operations in the territory of our state and some one ton of drugs, a large amount of weapons and ammunition have been seized and 12 heroin labs have been destroyed in those operations,” Dovud said, noting that they have managed to considerably reduce drug production in some provinces bordering on Tajikistan.
“Thus, in the provinces of Balkh, Kunduz and Takhor, the drug-containing plants are now practically not cultivated,” the Afghan deputy minister said.
On the present drug situation in his country, General Dovud said that Afghanistan now has urgent needs in assistance of international community in combating drug trafficking, training personnel and providing special services with necessary equipment, as well as financial support for reconstruction of the national economy.
