Taliban Rejects Latest UN Report on Drug Use in Afghanistan

The Taliban’s Ministry of Interior spokesperson has dismissed the recent United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report on drug use levels in Afghanistan, calling it inconsistent with the country’s current realities.

Abdul Mateen Qanih stated that the report was based on an old survey and cannot provide an accurate and comprehensive picture of the current situation in Afghanistan. According to him, the survey was conducted about a year ago.

Qanih added that the survey was only carried out in centers of a limited number of districts, and therefore, from the Taliban administration’s perspective, it lacks the capacity to reflect the widespread and nationwide status of the country.

This comes while reports from international organizations, including the United Nations, have been among the main sources for assessing the drug situation in Afghanistan in recent years. Nevertheless, the Taliban administration typically challenges these organizations’ findings—a factor that has raised concerns about transparency, access to independent information, and the possibility of impartial evaluation of the actual situation across various regions of the country.