TEHRAN (FNA)- A prominent Iranian lawmaker lambasted the US-led forces for their lack of care and action in combating drugs in Afghanistan, and said drug-production has skyrocketed in the war-torn country since the British forces took charge of drug combat in Afghanistan.


"The maximum volume of drug production in Afghanistan stood between 200 to 2,000 tons before, but today that Britain is present in Afghanistan, it has exceeded 8,000 tons," Chairman of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said on the occasion of the International Day of Campaign against Drugs in Tehran on Wednesday.

He blasted the European countries for their lack of efficient and serious investment in the campaign against the cultivation and trafficking of drugs, and said the money they spend to this end is very meager compared with Iran's spending in the war on drugs.

Iran has long complained that the global community, specially the western nations, do not contribute their role in the campaign against drugs, saying that Iran is making lone efforts to block the transit of narcotics from Afghanistan to Europe and the US.

Iranian police officials have long cautioned that drug production in Afghanistan has undergone a 40-fold increase since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.

According to the UN statistics, since the US-led invasion, drug production has always been on the increase in Afghanistan. In 2007, the opium trade reached an estimated all-time production high of 8,200 tons.

Afghan and western officials blame Washington and the NATO for the change, saying that allies have "overlooked" the drug problem since invading the country over a decade ago.

By Fars News

 

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