DUSHANBE, September 19, 2012, Asia-Plus – On Wednesday September 19, President Emomali Rahmon met in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) with a group of local residents.

During the meeting, the president reportedly declined the proposal of a resident of Khorog’s Khlebzavod neighborhood to form a special battalion to fight against drug trafficking on the Tajik-Afghan border from among former members of illegal armed formations.

For his part, the president offered him “to provide assistance with breaking up three-four drug trafficking groups, which are known to all residents of the city.”

Emomali Rahmon expressed surprise that some residents of Khorog are concerned about the fate of drug dealers, while more than 250 young men have died of an overdose in Khorog in recent years.