Taliban Officials Hold Awareness Meeting to Combat Drug Cultivation in Badakhshan

Taliban authorities have held an awareness meeting aimed at preventing drug cultivation in the Jurm district of Badakhshan province. According to officials, this event is part of a nationwide campaign to combat the cultivation and trafficking of narcotics.

Representatives from the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior stated during the program that awareness campaigns are currently underway in 64 districts across 22 provinces in the country. They said the primary goal of these programs is to deliver the Taliban leadership’s message to the public and encourage residents to cease cultivating narcotics.

Hashmatullah Haqiq, head of awareness programs at the Ministry of Interior’s Anti-Narcotics Directorate, explained that these campaigns are running in various parts of the country with a focus on changing public attitudes toward drug cultivation. He emphasized that awareness is considered a key tool in reducing this phenomenon.

Meanwhile, several farmers and residents of Badakhshan cautiously welcomed the meeting but warned that sustainable prevention of opium poppy cultivation would not be possible without providing economic alternatives. They called for stopping drug trafficking, creating job opportunities, and implementing development projects in their areas.

However, the Anti-Narcotics Directorate in Badakhshan, without providing clear statistics on cultivated land in previous years, claimed that all drug cultivation was eradicated this year and that cultivation rates have dropped to zero. The lack of transparent data has raised questions and doubts among residents and local observers regarding the effectiveness and honesty of these claims.