U.S. Embassy Press Release
Drug Burning in Garmser District, Helmand Province
Helmand, July 22, 2009 – The Afghan Deputy Minister of the Interior for Counternarcotics, Mohammad Daud, in conjunction with the Ministry of Counternarcotics’ Khodaidad, Helmand Provincial Governor Gulab Mangal and U.S. forces, supervised the destruction of illicit materials consisting of opium, poppy seed, and “precursor chemicals” seized by Afghan forces this week in the Garmser district of Helmand province.
Helmand Governor Gulab Mangal stressed the need to convince farmers to grow alternative crops, saying “the farmers of Helmand province are capable of producing more wheat than is needed.”
“The United States is committed to working with our Afghan partners to fight the scourge of illegal narcotics,” said Ambassador E. Anthony Wayne, Coordinating Director for Development and Economic Affairs at the U.S Embassy in Kabul. “We are supporting the Afghan government’s eight-pillar National Drug Control Strategy by going after the traffickers and the drug lords. This is a strategy that focuses on and supports the people of Afghanistan, and targets those who undermine the legitimate government and economy of Afghanistan. This seizure represents a team effort led by the Afghan Government.”
Recent seizures at two locations, carried out by Afghan National Police units mentored by DEA as part of a larger operation involving the Afghan National Army, and U.S. Marines netted 297 tons of poppy seed, 35 kgs of heroin, 135 kgs of opium, 550 kgs of hashish, and 16,000 liters of chemicals used to convert opium to heroin. IED materials and weapons, including RPGs and AK-47s, were also seized, underscoring the connection between drug trafficking and the insurgency.