Iran plans to construct a wall along its border with Afghanistan to bring it under strict control, an Iranian official says, reported PressTV.
"The entire Iranian border along Afghanistan will be sealed with concrete walls and barbed wire by the end of the current year [ending March 20, 2010]," IRNA quoted the deputy head of Iran's Drug Control Headquarters as saying on Wednesday.
Taha Taheri noted that the barriers will be constructed along the 700-km (435-mile) border between the two countries.
He stressed that the move is aimed at halting drug trafficking from Afghanistan to Iran.
The Iranian official criticized Western countries over their policies towards Afghanistan, where, since the US-led military occupation in 2001, poppy cultivation in the country has increased instead of being curtailed.
"It seems that the West is supporting drug production in Afghanistan rather than fighting against it," Taheri added.
Afghanistan supplies more than 90 percent of the world's opium, which is the raw ingredient of heroin.
The UN values the potential export value of Afghan narcotics at about $3.4 billion a year.