Kabul: The Taliban have signed a deal with Australia’s Cpharm Company that is willing to invest $450,000,000.00 in the cannabis processing industry in Afghanistan, a Taliban spokesperson tweeted. Qari Saeed Khosty, the spokesperson for the Interior Ministry has said that the deal has been finalized and its work may start within days. The company will use process cannabis for medical purposes and will be provided with thousands of acres of land of cannabis, Khosty said.
The cannabis production and processing will be legally contracted with Cpharm, he added. But, on the other hand, Cpharma, an Australian medical consulting firm rejects any kind of involvement in the cannabis deal with the Taliban, the company said in a press release. The company further added that they do not manufacture or supply anything. This comes as the Taliban had earlier committed to crack down on cannabis and opium processing in Afghanistan and will not allow formers to get engaged in the drug production business.
Afghanistan is currently going through an economic and humanitarian crisis with over 95% population below the poverty line for months now and this is the first initiative announced by the Taliban, however, it was widely criticized by the Afghan social media users. The International community has said they will not recognize the Taliban government until an inclusive government with the inclusion of women and other ethnicities and religious groups is not formed in Afghanistan. On the other hand, the United States and Taliban are going to resume talks in the coming week in Doha, Qatar with a focus on counterterrorism operations against ISIS-K and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.