According to the Afghan minister, his talks with senior government officials in Moscow will deal, among other things, with the involvement of Russian companies in the rebuilding of Afghanistan's economy.
Ways of maintaining security and stability in and around Afghanistan are expected to dominate the agenda of Dr. Abdullah's talks with the Defense Minister and the head of the Federal Security Service. '"In its recent past, Afghanistan was sort of a nest of international terrorism and, as such, posed a serious threat not just to the region, but to the world at large. Today, the situation in Afghanistan has changed for the better appreciably, but it still requires that regional states should make efforts to resist possible threats," the Afghan minister pointed out. One of such threats is drug production and trafficking, and due attention will be paid to it at Dr. Abdullah's Moscow talks.
The Taliban regime was ruthless in cracking down on drug production in the country, and managed to achieve impressive results. But since Khamid Karzai's liberal government has come into power, poppy plantations have mushroomed, turning Afghanistan into the world's largest producer of opium. International programs to reorient local farmers to alternative crops do not have much effect as the monetary rewards offered for the conversion are meager.
