Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said strengthening security in Afghanistan means improvement of regional security.
Larijani made the statement in a meeting with an Afghan parliamentary delegation headed by lawmaker Ghulam Mohiuddin Munsif in Tehran on Sunday.
The speaker said there is extensive cooperation between the two countries, while Iran tries to help solve problems of the Afghan nation, ICANA reported.
Expressing concern over poppy production in Afghanistan, Larijani said, “By replacing [poppy] with an appropriate agricultural product that is profitable, you should try to stop the cultivation and trafficking of the destructive material, which tarnishes Afghanistan’s reputation on the international scene.”
Larijani promised to help Afghans implement the plan sponsored by the United Nations to replace poppy cultivation with other crops, especially saffron.
Mohiuddin Munsif, who is the head of Commission for Legislative, Justice and Judiciary Affairs in the Afghan House of Elders, thanked Iran for hosting Afghan migrants throughout these years and called for conducting exchange of Afghan prisoners jailed in Iran over various crimes.
On poppy cultivation, Munsif said the Afghan Parliament has passed the legislation to prohibit the cultivation of poppy and encourages farmers to plant saffron in the areas under the government control.
“But in the Taliban-held areas, which are out of the government’s reach, poppy is being cultivated,” he said.
Afghanistan is the largest opium production and distribution country in the world, supplying more than 90% of the drug. After 13 years of occupation by US forces, Afghanistan set a record for growing poppies in 2014.
Munsif said Afghans have engaged in talks with the regional states, including Pakistan, to help restore peace to the country, but practically nothing has happened.
“Without global cooperation, there cannot be sustainable peace in Afghanistan,” he said, adding that instability in Afghanistan would spur insecurity in the neighboring countries.
