KABUL, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's counter-narcotics police have wiped out over 30,000 acres of poppy farms in northern Badakhshan province over the past three months, a local official said Tuesday.
"Afghan counter-narcotic police during a three-month campaign against illicit corps succeeded in smashing over 30,000 acres of poppy farms in the vicinities of 11 districts of the province," said Ehsanullah Kamgar, spokesman for the provincial police.
The poppy lands were cultivated last year, said Kamgar, adding that the new round of operations aimed to eradicate poppy farms across the province.
Most of the poppy farms have been destroyed in Jurm, Argo, and Darayem districts of Badakhshan, Kamgar said.
Poppy cultivation in the war-ravaged country had fallen by 95 percent, according to figures released by the United Nations in 2023.
The Afghan caretaker government banned the cultivation of opium poppy and the trade of opium in Afghanistan in April 2022. ■
