Following the Taliban’s takeover six months ago, ruthless methods have been used to clean up the drug problem in Afghan society.
Opium cultivation has been an important source of income for Afghan farmers, and this has resulted in both a high number of addicts and a stamp as a drug.
The Islamist group wants an end to this. Cost what it will cost.
– HUNGRY: Abdul says that people are dying every day and that the situation is getting worse and worse. Photo: DR
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The drug addicts are forcibly admitted to detoxification clinics, which are more similar to concentration camps or prisons than health care institutions. It is more descriptive to refer to them as inmates, than inpatients or patients.
Danish Radio’s Asia correspondent Philip Khokhar visited Kabul’s detoxification clinic, and documented shocking scenes of starving prisoners.
The stories they have to tell are even more shocking.
– EATING GRASS: Outside the “clinic” several men are sitting and eating grass. They say it dulls the gnawing hunger Photo: DR
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– Wow. This is crazy to see, the reporter from Danmarks Radio exclaims as he enters a hall with inpatients sitting close together. They are waiting for lunch which consists of a plate of rice.
Skinny men say they do not get food. That they are so hungry that they resort to eating grass and cats.
One man claims they were driven to cannibalism because their hunger was so strong.
– They killed a man and made a fire. They took his intestines and ate them, says the man, who has previously been flown and speaks good English.
– HUNGRY: Many millions of Afghans are threatened by starvation. The drug addicts are among the hard hit by the humanitarian crisis. Photo: DR
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An inmate, Abdul, says that they have gone for days without food, and that people die of hunger every day.
– People ate cats out in the park yesterday. One cut off the cat’s head and ate it, he says.
– DEATH NEAR: This man was admitted to the intensive care unit during DR’s visit. Photo: DR
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The hospital management confirms that the patients receive too little food.
– We have a thousand beds, but three thousand hospitalized, says the head of the hospital, Mohammed Zahir Soltani to DR.
He says that the employees have not been paid for several months.
– REDUCTION: This picture from October 2021 shows one of the drug addicts who has his hair shaved off before he is admitted for forced detoxification. AFP Photo: BULENT KILIC
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However, when a Taliban representative is confronted with the starvation of patients, it is categorically rejected.
– They’re sick. They have no control over what they say, says Hasibullah Ahmadi. He is the head of the Taliban’s anti-drug office in Kabul.
Taliban police are searching for Kabul’s nooks and crannies, looking for homeless people addicted to heroin and methamphetamine.
The Islamist group’s strict rules mean that thousands are sent to these prison-like clinics, which are called “the world’s most brutal rehab”.
Abdul says things are getting worse day by day.
– We used to get half a loaf of bread, but we no longer get that, he says.
Several of the addicts say they are treated like animals.
– BRAKKER: This is how the addicts sleep in large dormitories. There are 3,000 patients sharing 1,000 beds. Photo: DR
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– The Taliban oppresses us and kills us addicts, one says.
The sleeping barracks are packed with bunk beds reminiscent of the pictures seen from the Nazi concentration camps. Inside sits a young man. He cries when he talks to DR.
– Not even dogs would be able to live like this, he says.
– CRYING: A young man is sitting desperately on the edge of the bed. Photo: DR
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Many of these men are homeless. When sent to these institutions, they are shaved and washed before being admitted for at least three months. The purpose is to make them drug-free.
Patients receive minimal or no medical treatment to relieve discomfort and pain. Buprenorphine or matadone, which are commonly used in the treatment of heroin addiction, are not used.
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