HERAT, Afghanistan, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Units of Counter-Narcotics Force have destroyed 5,000 acres of poppy cultivated farms in western Afghanistan's Herat province over the past four months, head of counter-narcotics force in the province Mawlawi Hayatullah Rohani said Thursday.

"In the latest move against illicit drugs, we destroyed eight acres of poppy and hashish fields on Wednesday alone," Rohani told Xinhua.

Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, supreme leader of the Taliban-run caretaker administration, in a decree issued in April banned poppy cultivation, processing and trafficking. Since then the security forces have been cracking down on narcotics in the war-torn country.

The security forces have destroyed poppy and hashish fields in Gazara, Shindand, Adraskan, Farsi and Zawal districts over the past four months and would continue to crack down on the contraband elsewhere in Herat province, the official said.

Rohani believes that reducing poppy fields would eventually cut the number of drug addicts in the province.

More than 3 million drug addicts reportedly live in Afghanistan.  Enditem