A senior U.N. official Tuesday praised Pakistan's anti-drug trafficking efforts and said his organization would continue its support to the Moslem nation. "There is political commitment (to this cause) and the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) and other agencies are doing an excellent job in interdicting as well as reducing demand and rehabilitation," Bernard Frahi, chief of the U.N. Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC)'s Partnership in Development Branch, told a press conference. Frahi led a two-day expert conference that discussed Pakistan's anti-narcotics efforts and he said he appreciated "excellent work in complex situations" such as preventing drugs from crossing the long border with Afghanistan. U.N. and U.S. officials believe Afghanistan would have a bumper crop this year which could destabilize the political rehabilitation process in the war-ravaged country. "Of course, Afghanistan is the source of poppy but trafficking takes place through its neighbours like Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan," Frahi said. According to U.N., opium poppy cultivation re-emerged in Pakistan in 2003 and continued in 2004 after it had been reduced to almost nothing during the late 1990s. The latest International Narcotics Control Boards report said the illicit opium poppy had been cultivated on about 6,700 hectares. The U.N. official urged the international community to extend more support to Islamabad in the war against narcotics. --more 1437 Local Time 1137 GMT
