Afghan officials destroyed six tons of drugs and drug-making supplies in a large bonfire on a hillside outside the capital, Kabul, on Sunday.
Afghanistan's counter-narcotics minister, General Khodaidad Khodaidad, characterized the destruction of the seized opium, hashish, and drug-processing chemicals as a "big success against terrorism."
But he also noted that six tons of narcotics and chemicals is a small amount in Afghanistan. The country produces more than 90 percent of the world's supply of opium, the main ingredient in heroin.
Afghanistan's Taliban insurgency is partially funded by drug trafficking.
The United Nations says Afghanistan produced nearly 8,000 tons of opium alone last year, valued at nearly $3.5 billion. It says that taxes on poppy farmers and drug traffickers might have helped Taliban insurgents collect up to $500 million.
Afghan and international officials are trying to crack down on the drug problem by targeting drug traffickers and giving Afghan farmers alternatives to growing poppy.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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