Abdul Haq Akhund, Deputy Minister for Counter-Narcotics at the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior, has called on the United Nations to assist with alternative poppy cultivation and the treatment of drug addiction in Afghanistan.

According to a statement released by the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior on Sunday, Akhund made the request during a meeting in Kabul with officials from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The ministry said UNODC representatives pledged to support Afghan farmers in transitioning away from opium poppy cultivation and to provide assistance for drug rehabilitation programmes across the country.

The Taliban consider their anti-drug campaign a key achievement. However, neighbouring countries such as Iran and Tajikistan have repeatedly reported large quantities of narcotics being trafficked from Afghanistan into their territories.

Earlier this month, Tajikistan’s National Security Committee reported that four Afghan nationals attempting to smuggle 58 kilograms of opium and methamphetamine into the country were intercepted at the border. Two of them were killed by border forces, while the other two reportedly fled back into Afghanistan.

Despite the Taliban's formal ban on the cultivation, production, and sale of opium, which was announced in April 2022, multiple reports from within Afghanistan suggest that drug trafficking has not only persisted but become increasingly organised. Confessions from traffickers and accounts from local residents indicate that the narcotics trade continues to flourish under Taliban rule.