TEHRAN -- Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri-Kani said Saturday the production of opium in Afghanistan has increased by 50 times since the U.S.-led invasion of the Central Asian country in October 2001.
Bagheri-Kani made the remarks at an international conference dubbed “The 21st Century and a World free from American Dominance” here, stating that the output of opium made from poppy seeds in Afghanistan soared dramatically following the deployment of U.S. military forces there.
“Both Americans’ decisions and actions, such as their presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, have proven to be ineffective and not constructive,” he said.
“Nowadays the United States tends to draw on its force more than its might,” the top diplomat added.
Prior to the invasion of Afghanistan, opium production was banned by the Taliban, although it still managed to exist.
The U.S. and its allies have been accused of encouraging and aiding opium production and the ongoing drug trafficking within the region.
Only a small fraction of the total opium yield in Afghanistan is destroyed. The international community has also failed to curb heroin production in Afghanistan since the devastating military campaign.
Afghanistan is thought to produce more than 90 percent of the world’s supply of opium, which is then used to make heroin and other dangerous drugs that are shipped in large quantities all over the world. Opium production provides many Afghan communities with an income, in an otherwise impoverished and war-torn country.
Nearly half of the drugs produced in Afghanistan are moved through Pakistan, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
According to UNODC findings, the cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan increased by 32 percent over the previous year to 233,000 hectares, making the 2022 crop area the largest ever.
Cultivation continued to be concentrated in the southwestern parts of the country, which accounted for 73 percent of the total area, registering the largest crop increase.
In Helmand province, one-fifth of all arable land was dedicated to opium poppy cultivation.
The notorious Daesh terrorist group in Afghanistan is reported to have recently taken over opium production and trafficking.
On Thursday, Russian Special Presidential Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov held the United States and Britain responsible for the growth of Deash in Afghanistan and the uptick in violence across the country.
Kabulov made the comments in an opinion piece published in the Russian daily newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta, stating that Washington and London are helping the Daesh affiliate to cement its foothold in the crisis-stricken nation.
The U.S. and Britain are also exerting considerable pressure on high-profile Taliban figures to distance themselves from Russia and China, before they are targeted in assassination strikes carried out by unmanned aerial vehicles.
“Americans, together with their British collaborators, are putting their frantic efforts into strengthening the positions and the destructive potential of the Afghan