Drug addicts survive in a prison in Kabul with empty eyes and shaven heads. Disturbing footage shows addicts being forced behind bars by the Taliban for 45 days cold turkey without medication or treatment.
For decades, poverty and war have driven people in Afghanistan to drug addiction. The country is the world’s largest and by far the largest producer of opium and heroin. But since the stone-age Islamists of the Taliban came to power, the problem has only gotten worse.
The number of dependents must have increased
About 2.3 million Afghans took drugs in 2015 – before the holy warriors reigned. That was about five percent of the population. There are currently no official estimates, but Afghan UN expert Dr. According to information from bild, Zalmel (in Afghanistan it is often the case that there is only one name on documents and the family name is unknown) is himself. certainly, the number of addicts must have increased.
Why? After the Taliban came to power, the West refused to pay any financial support. The economy has collapsed, some ten million people in Afghanistan cannot afford even a single meal a day. Families that were once able to support themselves have been deprived of their livelihood.
On hills, in tents and in the mud
Homeless and addicted to locally produced heroin, opium and crystal meth, hundreds of men lie scattered on hills in the Afghan capital Kabul, some in tents, others in the dirt. Some can be found under bridges and even in sewers. Intoxicated, they try to forget their suffering. One or the other is already dead, others are waiting. “It’s okay to die,” an addict tells an AP reporter. Another blows on a dog’s muzzle with a plastic bottle.
In Afghanistan, even the animals are dependent. There are corpses of dogs overdose among the waste.
Arrested and forced into camps
For years, the Taliban funded their war against the Afghan government with drug trafficking. After taking power, they announced plans to crack down on the country’s thriving opium industry. The holy warriors have launched an aggressive campaign to eradicate poppy cultivation. At the same time, they adopted the deposed, internationally backed government policy of rounding up addicts and forcing them into camps.
Go cold turkey on a former US military base
For two nights in early summer, Taliban militants rounded up about 1,500 people and herded them into trucks and cars to take them to Avicenna Medical Hospital for Drug Treatment, a former US military base, according to registration officials. treatment center in 2016.
It is the largest of a series of drug treatment camps around Kabul. There the addicts were shaved and placed in barracks for 45 days. They receive no treatment or medication during withdrawal.
But the camps do little to break the addiction. A week after the raids, the locations were again full of hundreds of drug addicts, the AP reports. “It’s normal,” one of the addicts tells the AP reporter under a bridge. “It’s getting bigger every day and it never stops.”
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
