Afghanistan: UN anti-drug official hails new decree against narcotics

The senior United Nations anti-drug official in Afghanistan today welcomed the issuance of a religious decree condemning narcotics and related activities.

Mohammad Reza Amirkhizi, Country Representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said the fatwa signed by Afghanistan's Council of Ulemas earlier this month sends a “clear message that opium poppy cultivation – even if it is not consumed by Muslims or if it is done out of poverty – is illegal.”

The religious decree stresses to the Government and Afghan people that cultivation, processing, trafficking and consumption of drugs must be prevented.

While Afghans have long understood that Islam prohibits the consumption of narcotics, there has often been confusion about whether or not cultivation of opium poppy was haram, or strictly forbidden. UNDOC said the new fatwa clarifies that cultivation is indeed haram.

Mr. Amirkhizi's statement came as he prepared to leave the position of UNDOC chief in Afghanistan. His successor is Doris Buddenburg, who comes to the country after having served many years with UNODC, most recently in Viet Nam. She will formally take up the post in September.

In a separate development, UN officials announced today that voter registration in the war-ravaged country has passed the 9 million mark. Women made up more than 41 per cent of the 9,149,261 Afghans registered as of 3 August.

But this welcome news comes amid ongoing violence in Afghanistan, which most recently saw two electoral workers killed in an attack on Friday.

A spokesman for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) acknowledged that providing security for voter registration sites is easier than providing security on voting day. “Of course the people who deal with security are also aware of this so they have been working very actively to design plans,” Manoel de Almeida e Silva told reporters in Kabul.

He voiced hope that “religious and tribal leaders and shuras in every area of this country, no matter how small, will also consider [it] their responsibility to ensure that people behave properly, go to the polling station and dismiss any attempts by those who might want to spoil this process.”