Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he is considering an amnesty for former drug traffickers, but only if it can help eliminate the country's booming narcotics industry.
Mr. Karzai was responding Wednesday to a question by a reporter about a minister's remark that the government was considering an amnesty for wealthy traffickers providing they put their ill-gotten funds back into Afghanistan's reconstruction.
He said amnesty is not a bad idea, but that there must be an absolute surety that the move will discourage drug trafficking.
Afghan counter-narcotics officials have alleged in the past that some provincial governors and police officials are heavily involved in the country's drugs trade, which now accounts for two-thirds of Afghanistan's economy.
Some information for this report provided by AFP, AP.