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COVID-19 Adds to Addiction Woes in Afghanistan

Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska

   KABUL - Mohammed Reza, 37, sits on a bus stop in the Pul-e-Sukhta area
   in Kabul, rays of sun illuminating his fatigued tanned face. Just
   several meters away, under a bridge, down a damp sloping riverbank
   filled with a stale mixture of trash and human waste is a place he
   calls home.

   It's also a place where each day, dozens of drug users meet amid fumes
   of heroin and the increasingly popular crystal meth.

   Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, police have targeted
   addicts in these areas in an effort to clear Afghanistan's streets of
   drug users like Mohammed Reza.

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