Meth boom adds to Afghanistan's opium and heroin woes

At a sprawling rehabilitation centre on the outskirts of Kabul, dozens of dazed-looking drug addicts clamber out of police buses and shuffle toward the facility.

The men, arrested on the streets of the Afghan capital, have been sent to a compulsory detox programme established to tackle an explosion in the use and production of highly addictive methamphetamine.

Almost unheard of in Afghanistan until a few years ago, meth's sudden appearance has blindsided authorities in a country already suffering from a crisis in opium and heroin addiction.

"My life has been ruined by addiction," said 25-year-old Sulaiman, one of the 40 or so men arriving at the treatment centre.

The physical impact of the drug -- known locally as "shisha", or glass -- is evident: Sulaiman's sunken eyes and hollow cheeks paint a picture of meth addiction familiar in many Western nations.

He says he got hooked while living in Iran several years ago. "I would do whatever it takes to get the drug, from labouring to stealing," he added.

Sulaiman and other patients at Ibn Sina, Afghanistan's largest addiction treatment facility, must undergo 45 days of mandatory rehab.

Located on the site of a former military base, Ibn Sina currently houses around 900 men. Smaller facilities elsewhere are available for women.

Until 2017, it was filled mainly with opiate addicts, said Abdul Jabar Jalili, Ibn Sina's chief physician and counsellor.

"Today, around 70 percent of patients here are addicted to meth," he told AFP, pointing to a group of addicts ambling around a sun-filled yard in the vast compound.

Statistics are bleak, with many of the patients addicted to both meth and opiates. Afghan health officials say more than 80 percent of the patients will relapse.

Naqibullah, another addict, started using the synthetic stimulant two years ago when his sister was killed in a Taliban bombing and a villager offered him a "non-addictive" drug to ease his grief.

"Initially... I liked it," the 34-year-old said.

"But then came the dark side, and I started to go mad, becoming violent and attacking members of my family."