Over one million people across the globe have died of Afghan heroin since the start of NATO's Operation in the war-torn country in 2001, a senior Russian official said today.
Ahead of drastic changes in the situation in Afghanistan after the pullout of the bulk of the NATO's troops in 2014, it is necessary to deeply and consistently analyse the situation there and forge a more efficient position of Russia in close cooperation with Afghanistan and the whole world community, the head of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service, Viktor Ivanov said during a conference on drug situation in Afghanistan.
He said help from regional states including Pakistan and Iran should be sought in curbing the drug menace.
According to Ivanov, global drug production that has developed over the past ten years is the main factor behind the instability of Afghanistan.
"Any unbiased observer has to state the deplorable fact that after a colossal, more than 40-time, growth in amounts of heroin production in Afghanistan as a result of Operation Enduring Freedom launched in 2001, the international community has failed to reverse the situation," the official stressed.
He said "over one million people in the world have died of Afghan heroin, and over one trillion dollars have been invested in trans-national organized crime from heroin sales," since the operation started, Ivanov said.