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Iran slams NATO over Afghan drugs

Iran’s Parliament Speaker has accused the NATO alliance of involvement in the flow of narcotics from Afghanistan to other parts of the world.

Afghan drug cartels “have their hands up NATO’s sleeve and are spreading the [flow] of drugs across the world,” Ali Larijani said on Tuesday.

“A significant part of the smuggling is done through aerial transit from airports under NATO control,” the Iranian official said.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military alliance formed back in 1949. NATO helped the United States invade Afghanistan in 2001.

Larijani also said the production of narcotics has increased significantly since the US-led invasion of the country.

“In 2001, 2,000 tons of drugs were being produced in Afghanistan, while today the figure has reached 8,000 tons despite US officials’ remarks about the fight against drug production,” he said.

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.

“Afghanistan is the first and biggest producer of narcotics in the world,” Larijani said, adding that its eastern neighbor is the main source of drug trafficking to Iran.

“Iran is facing the vast frontline of drug smuggling alone,” he concluded.

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