Tajik Official: Drugs Smuggled from Northern Afghanistan to Russia and the European Union

Bayan News – Zafar Samad, the head of Tajikistan’s Anti-Drug Agency, has claimed in his latest statements that drugs are being smuggled from large stockpiles in northern Afghanistan to Russia and the European Union.

This Tajik official, speaking at the sixty-seventh session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna on Sunday (March 16), alleged that drug trafficking from Afghanistan to other countries is taking place.

He added that smugglers from Afghanistan continue their efforts to transport drugs to Tajikistan as well.

According to Samad, the Tajik government is strengthening its borders with Afghanistan and establishing new border checkpoints to combat drug trafficking.

Mr. Samad stated that a bilateral program between the Collective Security Treaty Organization for border reinforcement between Tajikistan and Afghanistan is expected to be approved this year.

It is worth mentioning that after coming to power in Afghanistan, the Taliban issued a directive prohibiting the cultivation and trafficking of drugs, and according to this directive, no one has the right to cultivate, traffic, or sell drugs.

Following the implementation of this directive, drug cultivation and trafficking in the country have been reduced to zero, and these efforts by the Taliban have been internationally welcomed.