The Taliban governor of Kandahar province, Mullah Shirin, held a meeting with the police commanders of 11 districts in the province to discuss district security and the prevention of cultivation, trafficking, buying, and selling of narcotics.
The Taliban-run national television in Kandahar reported on Thursday, 13 May, that the meeting was held with the police commanders of the districts of Panjwayi, Ghorak, Takhta-Pul, Koshteh Shah-Walikot, Dand, Arghandab, Zheri, Maroof, Daman, Lower Maiwand, and Koshteh Maiwand.
According to the report, in addition to assessing the security situation, Mullah Shirin advised security officials to take serious measures to prevent the cultivation and trafficking of narcotics.
This meeting took place amid recent reports of the re-cultivation of opium poppy in some districts of Kandahar.
Sources say that after a three-year halt, opium cultivation has resumed in the districts of Shah-Walikot, Ghorak, Khakriz, and Maiwand in Kandahar, as well as in some areas of Helmand and Uruzgan provinces.
Although the Taliban have apparently banned the cultivation and trade of opium, some sources had previously stated that people in the southwestern provinces were indirectly told to cultivate opium in hidden locations and inside fortresses.
Writer:Saeed Sameer
