Russia will boost its drug control mission...
to root out drug production in Afghanistan itself.According to official statistics, 30,000 people die in Russia every year from heroin, around 90% of it coming from Afghanistan. Over one million people have so far died from Afghan heroin worldwide.
Ivanov said that Afghan drug production, which is estimated to be worth some $65 billion, provided "gigantic resources for terrorist and extremist organizations," and led to a "rise in crime and corruption" in counties affected by drug trafficking.
He also said that there was a direct link between fighting drug production and the ongoing major military offensive in Afghanistan"s Helmand province against the Taliban by NATO and Afghan forces.
"If we are talking about drug production together with the anti-terrorist operation, one cannot be separated from the other," he said.
Afghan drug production increased dramatically after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban in 2001, and Russia has
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