Tasnim – Iranian Police Commander Brigadier General Hossein Ashtari highlighted the security situation along the country’s common border with neighboring Afghanistan as “desirable”.

According to Tasnim dispatches, the police commander visited the border units in the southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan along the common border with Afghanistan on Sunday night.

In a speech, Ashtari said the “desirable” security existing at the southeastern border of the country is a result of interaction and coordination between the border guards and locals.

He further referred to the martyrdom of Iranian police forces in the fight against illicit drugs and said international organizations should feel responsibility by supporting the Islamic Republic in the fight against drug trafficking.

Iran, which has a 900-kilometer common border with Afghanistan, has been used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to narcotics kingpins in Europe.

Despite high economic and human costs, the Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug-trafficking over the past decades.

The country has spent more than $700 million on sealing its borders and preventing the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries.

The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past four decades.