U.S. Force Enlargement in Afghanistan Doesn’t Fight Drugs – Drug Enforcer

In-depth Report:

MOSCOW. Jan 18 (Interfax) – Russia opposes the U.S. decision to enlarge its military force in Afghanistan especially as it will do little to fight the drugs situation, Federal Drug Control Service head Viktor Ivanov told a press conference in Moscow.

“The enlargement of the 200,000-strong military force leads to further escalation of tensions and inability of Afghan residents to raise regular agricultural crops. In fact, they are pushed to produce opium poppy,” he said.

The highest concentration of NATO servicemen in Afghanistan is being accompanied with the highest concentration of opium poppy, he said.

“That situation causes doubts about the anti-terrorist mission and leads to the conclusion about catastrophic consequences of the eight-year stay [of coalition forces] in Afghanistan,” he said.

The heroin production in Afghanistan has grown 40 times. “That is happening silently, right before our eyes,” Ivanov said.

Afghanistan today produces twice as much heroin than the entire world produced a decade ago, he said.


Articles by: Global Research

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Centre of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post Global Research articles on community internet sites as long the source and copyright are acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original Global Research article. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]

www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner.

For media inquiries: [email protected]