Kabul [Afghanistan], June 1 : Taliban's Ministry of Public Health on World No Tobacco Day said that twenty-seven per cent of Afghan citizens regularly use tobacco, of which nearly three per cent are women, Afghanistan-based TOLO News reported.
TOLO News is an Afghan news channel.
As per the Taliban Ministry, more than forty-five per cent of deaths in Afghanistan are caused by non-infectious diseases.
"Twenty-seven per cent of Afghan citizens regularly use tobacco, and only 2.6 of them are women," said Mohammad Hassan Ghiyacy, deputy of Planning and Policy of the Ministry of Public Health under the caretaker Taliban regime.
According to the Chamber of Commerce and Investment, annually nearly a thousand containers of tobacco are imported to the country from various ports.
Acting head of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI), Mohammad Younus Momand said: "Sometimes our friends who come from outside, our neighbors, may bring it with them."
Taliban's Ministry of Public Health said that many youths and children use tobacco in Afghanistan.
"It has been two or three weeks that we use tobacco because of lack of work and education," said Jamshid, a Kabul resident.
"We have seen the harm of tobacco, my request to young people is to not smoke and stay away from drugs," said Ahmad, a Kabul resident, as per TOLO News.
According to the numbers of the World Health Organization, every year eight million people in the world die due to the use of tobacco.
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