MOSCOW: According to Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service, a third of Afghan troops have deserted to join the country’s drug trade industry.
“A concentration of foreign forces and fighting in a drug-producing state has ensured a climate of rampant desertion from the local armed forces and police,” Viktor Ivanov, director of the federal body, explained.
Afghanistan is known to be a primary source for opiate production, including heroin. The country is also a large producer of marijuana. Speaking at the Second Anti-narcotics Ministerial Conference in Moscow, Ivanov explained that most of the drugs produced in the Middle Eastern country end up in Russia and Eastern Europe, due to its closeness to the region.
Opium production in the country has steadily increased over the years, despite the presence of a United States counter-narcotics mission. Last year opium production reached record-high levels.
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