President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that Iran is ready to help Afghanistan bring the cultivation of illicit drugs under control, Mehr news reported.
Ahmadinejad made the remarks during a meeting with United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Yury Fedotov in Tehran on Wednesday.
During the meeting, Ahmadinejad said that illicit drugs pose a great danger to human society, and a serious collective effort is required to combat this phenomenon.
Political and economic decisions should be made at the regional and international levels to resolve the issue of drugs, he added.
Controlling drug cultivation in Afghanistan is an effective way to combat the scourge of drugs, and Iran is ready to help the country in this regard, Ahmadinejad stated.
"There is no doubt that farmers are not interested in cultivating illicit drugs, but they are in need of a replacement crop," he stated.
Ahmadinejad also called on NATO forces to begin "true cooperation" in the campaign against drugs, saying that if only 10 percent of the money spent on military operations in Afghanistan were spent on controlling drug cultivation, it could be controlled to a large extent.
Fedotov thanked Iran for its measures in the war on drugs, saying Iran ranks first in the world in illicit drug seizures.