The Ministry of Counter Narcotics ( / ) is a Ministry within the government of Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

. It is headed by Zarar Ahmad Moqbel.

The ministry leads the coordination, policy making, monitoring and evaluation of all counter-narcotics activities and efforts. All activities are carried out in view of the Constitution of Afghanistan

Constitution of Afghanistan

The Constitution of Afghanistan is the supreme law of the state Afghanistan, which serves as the legal framework between the Afghan government and the Afghan citizens...

, the Afghan Drug Law and Afghanistan's National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS).

The role of Minister of Counter Narcotics has been described as the world's toughest job .

Functions

Opium

Opium

Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...

 production in Afghanistan exceeds by far the opium produced in the rest of the world. The ministry has the lead on co-ordinating and evaluating the Afghan Drug Law and the NDCS.

The ministry has eight pillars of activity:

• institution building
• law enforcement
• international and regional cooperation
• eradication

• public awareness
• alternative livelihoods
• criminal justice
• demand reduction

There are four published priorities for activity:

Ministers

• Minister of Counter Narcotics — Zarar Ahmad Moqbel
• Deputy Minister for Policy and Coordination — Dr. Zafar

External links

• mcn.gov.af, official website