A United Nations report said on Sunday that Methamphetamine trafficking in and around Afghanistan has surged in recent years, even as the Taliban has curbed heroin trafficking since taking power in the country.

The Executive Director of the U.N. Office, Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ghada who revealed the report on behalf of the Nations, said; "The surge in methamphetamine trafficking in Afghanistan and the region suggests a significant shift in the illicit drug market and demands our immediate attention." 

Taliban, which regained power in August 2021, announced a ban on the production of narcotics in Afghanistan, the world's main opium producer, noting that its security forces were clamping down on Afghan poppy farmers and destroying crops.

While heroin trafficking has slowed, the UNODC said in a statement, meth trafficking "has intensified since the ban".

UNODC also revealed that Meth seizures in and around Afghanistan jumped 12-fold between 2019 and 2022, as nearby countries such as Iran and Pakistan also reported increased seizures, stressing that countries as far away as France and Australia have reported seizing methamphetamine that likely originated in Afghanistan it said.

The UNODC noted "Common cold medications and industrial-grade chemicals are more efficient and cost effective for the manufacture of methamphetamine and thus pose a far bigger threat."