76 Percent of Poppy Cultivation Happens Near Iran Borders, Says Iranian Official
Massoud Zahedian, the deputy head of Iran's anti-narcotics directorate, announced that in 2022, poppy plant has been cultivated on 233,000 hectares in Afghanistan. According to Zahedian, 76 percent of the cultivation is on land located near Iran's borders.
In an interview with Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA), Zahedian stressed that in the last two decades, drug production in Afghanistan has reached more than 50%.
The Iranian official accused the US and NATO member states of supporting drug cultivation in Afghanistan.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime also announced in November 2022 that opium cultivation had increased around 30 percent since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.
