Pubdate: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 Source: Reuters Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited. Author: Saeed Azhar AFGHANISTAN MAKES WEST ASIA HOT SPOT FOR DRUGS ISLAMABAD, - Increased opium production in Afghanistan and heroin trafficking has made West Asia the world's "hot spot" for drugs, a U.N. drug official said on Tuesday. "1998 has once again confirmed the increasing danger of drugs in the region," said Bernard Frahi, representative of United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP). "West Asia -- Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia -- remains a hot spot in the world," he told a news conference in Islamabad that marked the release of the annual report of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). He said Afghanistan had overtaken Myanmar as the world's largest producer of heroin precursor opium and remains a "soft belly" for the region and a source of enormous drug trafficking. The INCB report, launched by board Vice-President Dil Jan Khan, said Afghanistan could now be making all the illegal heroin that formerly came from Pakistan. It said a commitment by Afghanistan's purist Islamic Taleban movement to ban poppy growing and opiate processing in Afghanistan was questionable. Frahi said opium production in Afghanistan rose by nine percent in 1998 over 1997. Some 63,000 hectares of poppy fields produced 2,200 tonnes of opium, sufficient to produce 210 tonnes of heroin, he said. He said UNDCP had been conducting an opium survey in the country since 1994 and last year the Taleban provided security for its survey teams. "We have set up an excellent dialogue with the Taleban," he said, adding that the agency was working in four districts to help farmers reduce poppy cultivation. But he did not comment on last week's statement from the Taleban that said they had ordered the destruction of all heroin-manufacturing factories in areas within its control. Frahi said Pakistan was a "success story" for the elimination of poppy cultivation and was on track to completely halt cultivation of the plant by year 2000. He said opium production in Pakistan came down from 800 tonnes in 1979 to only 25 tonnes last year, mainly due to a drop in the cultivated area from 37,000 hectares in 1979 to 2,000 hectares last year. "In 1999 it is expected to come down to between five and 10 tonnes," he said. Frahi said multilateral funding of $200 million for projects in the tribal belt of Pakistan helped reduce poppy cultivation in the country. But he said securing funding for Afghanistan had been difficult and only $10 million had been contributed by donors. The Taleban have sought the support of the United Nations and the world community to provide alternative sources of income for farmers in Afghanistan. Frahi expressed concern over a rise in drug addiction in Pakistan where he estimated there were 3 million addicts, half of them heroin addicts. He said the agency was conducting a survey to get more accurate figures. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea