Starving Afghanistan drug addicts resort to cannibalism in Taliban-run rehab centres

The drug addicts are locked up for three months where they go cold turkey to detox.
The drug addicts are locked up for three months where they go cold turkey to detox. Photo credit: Getty Images

Homeless Afghan drug addicts have been forcefully taken by the Taliban to overrun treatment centres, where they are subjected to horrific conditions.

Witnesses have described the centres as reminiscent of concentration camps, where patients are crammed in three to a bed with little or no food.

They've been forced to eat grass and cats, reports say - and some have even turned to human flesh to ward off the hunger pains.

"They killed a man and made a fire. They took his intestines and ate them," a Danish journalist told the Daily Mail.

It is common for patients to go days without food and many drop dead from hunger, a patient told the outlet.

The drug addicts are locked up for three months where they go cold turkey to detox.

Al Jazeera reports the rehabilitation centre in Kabul is designed to hold 350 staff members and 1000 patients. However, it is occupied by around 3500 addicts brought by the Taliban to avoid visible casualties in harsh winter conditions.

As part of their agenda, the Taliban promised to clean the country's drug problem when they took over, despite Afghanistan being one of the leading producers of heroin and methamphetamine.

A United Nations report found between 1.9 million to 2.4 million Afghanistans were addicted to heroin or opioids in 2015.