Drug Addiction Rates Soar in War-Torn Afghanistan

The United Nations says addiction rates in war-torn Afghanistan have doubled in the past two years, to the point that nearly a million people are now using illegal drugs. The lyrics are a prayer. A drug counselor is asking God to help end drug addiction in Afghanistan. As he sings, about 25 men sit on cushions scattered across the floor of the drug treatment center, nodding their heads as they listen. Several of the men are in their 50s or 60s and silently stroke their beards in time to the music. The clinic is an old two-story building with a small central courtyard. From the street the building is anonymous, just one more dilapidated house on a dusty street outside Kabul. But inside, the men are taking their first steps toward ending their addiction.

Read More