The Afghan Special Narcotics Force (ASNF) Tuesday began a series of raids in the Achin district of eastern Nangarhar Province with the main objective being to disrupt illegal narcotics activities there, according to a statement. Afghan Minister of Interior Ali Ahmad Jalali noted that "this is the latest in a series of operations, demonstrating that the ASNF is fighting the narcotics traffickers, who are the real enemies of progress in Afghanistan." Since it became operational in January 2004, the ASNF has carried out a series of operations across Afghanistan, destroying over 100 tonnes of opium, over 30 tonnes of precursor chemicals and over 80 drug processing laboratories. "An elite, professional force, led and manned by Afghans of all ethnic backgrounds, it has recently grown significantly in size," the statement said. "The operations of the ASNF are directed at the drug traffickers," says the Afghan Minister of Counter Narcotics, Habibullah Qaderi. "This is an important part of the Government's counter-narcotics plan for this year, launched by President Karzai on February 16. The extremist Taliban regime that was toppled by a U.S.-led military coalition in late 2001, had totally banned cultivation of all types of illicit drugs across the war-torn country. Farmers restarted cultivation of poppy across Afghanistan after the Taliban regime was collapsed. -- SPA 2338 Local Time 2038 GMT
