FSKN chief backs pipeline, large infrastructural projects in Afghanistan
TEHRAN. Oct 26 (Interfax) - Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) Director Viktor Ivanov has proposed the opening of a UN-led office for alternative development of Afghanistan and the implementation of large-scale infrastructural projects in the country.
"These large-scale infrastructural projects may include the IPI [Iran-Pakistan-India] pipeline, the Meshed-Herat-Kandahar-Quetta railroad, a hydropower plant cascade on the Panj River and other industrialization projects," Ivanov said at a meeting of drug control chiefs of Russia, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Tajikistan in Tehran on Monday.
Russia will propose at the upcoming special session of the UN General Assembly the creation of a staff or an office for alternative development of Afghanistan with relevant financial backing, Ivanov said.
"Alternative development should rest upon modern forms of industrialization that require transborder integrated infrastructures combining transport, power industry and communications," Ivanov said.
The main obstacles to large-scale infrastructural projects in Afghanistan are the Balochistan Liberation Army and the movement Jundallah, he said.
In addition, Russia will compare the problem of Afghan drug trafficking to terrorism, piracy and nuclear non-proliferation at the special session of the UN General Assembly, Ivanov said. More than 1.5 million drug addicts in Russia use Afghan heroin, which is the most popular drug in Russia, Ivanov said.
The FSKN chief has been calling for the construction of transit pipelines in Afghanistan for many years, including a pipeline to deliver Turkmen hydrocarbons to Afghanistan and Pakistan. He proposed the building of a transit gas pipeline in southern Afghanistan in 2014.