Poppy growing on rise in Afghanistan

United Arab Emirates Ambassador Ali Mohammed al Shamsi on Monday urged the United Nations and the international community to provide technical assistance to Pakistan in combating narcotics trafficking in view of the growing poppy cultivation in Afghanistan.
"It is not easy for Pakistan to control drug trafficking along the 2400 km long porous border, in an inhospitable terrain with Afghanistan, and needs sophisticated monitoring equipment and training as drugs production there has more than doubled over the years," UAE Ambassador in Islamabad told APP in an interview.
He said the United Arab Emirates, under the 1996 agreement with Pakistan on checking drugs smuggling, was exchanging information and expertise to keep the Gulf region and the world free of narcotics.
"Both countries have a strong cooperation in fighting drug production, sale and trafficking, and are successfully checking it," he said. He said that the UAE already has a drug liaison office in Islamabad, and is in the process of establishing another one in Karachi to co-ordinate with the Ministry of Narcotics and the Anti-Narcotics Force to check narcotics smuggling in Sindh and Balochistan.
"We have managed to control some major trafficking rings operating between Afghanistan and the Gulf region," he said, but added that the drug smugglers were always coming up with innovative ideas.
Expressing satisfaction over the efforts by Pakistan in this regard, he pointed out that increased drug production in Afghanistan was reflected in growing smuggling.
"It is vital that modern techniques are employed to discourage the smugglers who are also getting 'smart' and using mobile laboratories to process narcotics, that is difficult to monitor and control." Ali Mohammed said that the UAE, through its liaison office, also shares information with other members of the GCC to check the flow of narcotics.
He said that the UAE would also launch a campaign through its Drug Liaison office in cooperation with the United Nations office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) from Monday, marking the international day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking.
He said UAE was seriously committed and was actively participating in every regional and international effort to combat the problems through a strategy based on preventive, combative and curative measures.
The Ambassador said that the UAE had seen a remarkable decrease in the quantity of narcotics smuggled into that country in the past few years through its cooperation with the UNODC, and Pakistan and other concerned countries. "We have to encourage regional cooperation and seek help of the international community by exchanging intelligence related to drug control and expertise to take stringent measures against the smugglers," he added.
He said the national drug control institutions need to be strengthened and the concerned countries need to improve their data-gathering and analysis through satellite images.