IRAN UNDERSCORES ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN

Kabul (Agencies): The visiting Secretary-General of the Iranian Anti- Drug
Campaign Headquarters Mohammad Fallah, during a meeting with his Afghan
counterpart Abdul-Hai Elahi, underlined Iran's complete support for the
campaign against narcotic drugs production and smuggling.In that meeting he
gave the assurance that Iran can do as well as Afghanistan to attract
concerned international organizations to come to an agreement regarding the
transfer of impounded opium to Iran to be used for medical purpose, and
that Iran is ready to take part in a program to send back the medicines to
Afghanistan.

For his part, Abdul-Hai Elahi praised Iran's firm and principled stance
against drug smuggling and production, noting that the government has made
an offer to help destroy poppy farms so that they can be devoted to useful
crops.

"The new war against narcotic drugs started after the establishment of the
Afghan interim government headed by Hamid Karzai and a new Afghan society
aided by 18 governmental companies recently established to realize the
goals," he observed.

Elahi went on to say that Iran, England, the United States, Japan, Russia,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and China are among the countries that have
announced their readiness to help rebuild Afghanistan.

The official stressed that poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is expected to
be abandoned during the next two to five years.

"We have been informed of Iran's efforts in the anti-drug campaign and have
requested its officials to cooperate more with our government in this
regard," he said.