Iran blames US for Afghan drug problem

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has blamed the increase in drug production and trafficking in Afghanistan on the US-led war in the country.

Mottaki said in a meeting with Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Yuri Fedotov that the presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan was that the main reason behind the increasing rate of drug production in the country.

“Those countries that have been responsible in Afghanistan over the past ten years must be held responsible for the unbelievable growth of drug production from 300 to 900 tons. It should be made clear whose hands are behind this spike,” IRNA quoted Mottaki as saying on Wednesday.

Mottaki elaborated on Iran’s anti-drug production and trafficking activities and expressed the country’s readiness to expand cooperation with UN organizations in the fight against illicit drugs.

Fedotov for his part praised Iran’s activities in this regard and welcomed Mottaki’s proposal to hold seminars about links between drug trafficking and terrorism.

Afghanistan continues to account for 90 percent of the world’s illicit opium and heroin production, the UN drugs monitoring body said in its 2010 report.

The poppy production and drug business in Afghanistan has come at a heavy cost for neighboring Iran. With a 900-kilometer (560-mile) common border with Afghanistan, Iran has been used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to drug dealers in Europe.

The drug trade originating in Afghanistan has claimed the lives of more than 3,000 Iranian police officers over the past 30 years.