Information on NATO Involvement in Afghan Drug Smuggling Must Be Investigated - Lavrov

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th July, 2020) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday said that information on NATO military involvement in drug smuggling in Afghanistan must be investigated.

"We have received numerous reports, including through the media, that opiates are being smuggled from Afghanistan into other countries, abroad and Europe, including reportedly using NATO military aircraft," Lavrov said in a videoconference appearance on Friday.

The diplomat said that several provincial governors have reported continued flyovers of unmarked airplanes over Afghan skies, which are fully controlled by NATO forces.

"These circumstances certainly require an investigation, primarily in the United States itself.

And secondly, of course, proceedings are also needed in the host country, Afghanistan," Lavrov said.

The Russian side is not capable of corroborating that information but the reports have become too regular to ignore, Lavrov said.

The minister went on to note that the import of Afghan-produced drugs into Europe, Russia and its neighbors has increased several times over in recent years.

Afghanistan is the main source of a majority of heroin and other opium-based drugs in the world, owing to native poppy plants. According to some records, the export of heroin was almost completely eradicated before 2001, when the Taliban was in power, and picked back up after the US-led invasion toppled the radical Islamist regime.