Afghan police seized more than 160 kg of illegal drugs in the northern provinces of Takhar and neighboring Badakhshan on 9 November 2026, according to a statement from the Ministry of Interior Affairs. The Ministry said the drugs were found in Kalafgan district of Takhar province and Tashkan district in Badakhshan province, with 83 kg and 79 kg weighed, respectively. Two individuals were arrested during the operation.
The Ministry of Interior’s report, released under the umbrella of the national police force, highlighted the seizure as a “significant success in the fight against drug trafficking.” It did not provide details on the identities of the arrested persons or the larger trafficking network they were allegedly part of.
Notably, the original national news outlet Xinhua reported the same figures in an online release dated 9 November 2026. The outlet’s English-language coverage confirmed the totals – 83 kg in Kalafgan and 79 kg in Tashkan – and identified the number of arrests, but stopped short of naming the suspects or describing the logistics of how the drugs were smuggled into the provinces.
Attempts to retrieve the original Xinhua article using the link cited in the search records returned a 404 Not Found error almost two hours after the initial discovery. The error indicates that the page may have been moved or removed, and further attempts have not yet yielded a working copy.
Uncertainties and Pending Details
At this time, the Afghan Interior Ministry has not released further information on the sources of the seized drugs, the operational details of how the police located the narcotics, or the broader implications for regional drug trafficking networks. The identities of the two arrested suspects remain undisclosed, and it is still unclear whether the seizure relates to a larger smuggling operation. No statements have yet been issued by law enforcement outside of the Ministry’s brief announcement, leaving unanswered questions about the broader context of this operation.