KABUL, Afghanistan - After the biggest opium harvest in Afghanistan's history, U.S. officials have renewed efforts to persuade the Afghan government to begin spraying herbicide on opium poppies, and they have found some supporters within President Hamid Karzai's administration, officials of both countries said.

Since early this year, Karzai has repeatedly declared his opposition to spraying the poppy fields, whether by crop-dusting airplanes or by eradication teams on the ground.

But Afghan officials said that the Karzai administration was now re-evaluating that stance. Some proponents within the government are pushing a trial program of ground spraying that could begin before the harvest next spring.

[continues 353 words]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- After the biggest opium harvest in Afghanistan's history, American officials have renewed efforts to persuade the government here to begin spraying herbicide on opium poppies, and they have found some supporters within President Hamid Karzai's administration, officials of both countries said.

Since early this year, Mr. Karzai has repeatedly declared his opposition to spraying the poppy fields, whether by crop-dusting airplanes or by eradication teams on the ground.

But Afghan officials said that the Karzai administration is now re-evaluating that stance. Some proponents within the government are even pushing a trial program of ground spraying that could begin before the harvest next spring.

[continues 1480 words]

The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, is resisting American pressure to authorise a major programme of crop spraying to eradicate the country's massive opium crop amid warnings that it would lead to a rise in support for the Taliban.

The plan has been strongly opposed by the British, who hold that it will make the task of the military in Helmand, the province which produces 50 per cent of the opium crop, much harder. Spraying from the air, critics say, carries with it the danger of destroying other crops, causing long-term ecological damage, and affecting the health of livestock.

[continues 474 words]

KABUL, Afghanistan - Sabera came to the new treatment center for female drug addicts with a plan. In five days, she would check in along with her daughter, and this time she would leave heroin forever.

And then Sabera went home. Within minutes she started smoking the brown powder on a small canoe-shaped piece of foil. So did her two children. Her son, Zaher, is 14. Her daughter, Gulpari, is 12. The family slumped on cushions against a wall. Zaher barely held his eyes open, rubbed his stomach and muttered, "God, God." Gulpari cuddled against her mother. Their fingers were black with tar.

[continues 646 words]

From here the opium is taken to the nearby mountains and villages to heroin labs set up by local drug dealers, where it is processed into heroin. Eventually, it will hit the streets of Europe

TRAVELLING on Afghanistan's main Jalalabad to Torkham road, you eventually arrive at Shaddle Bazaar, a market of around 30 shops in the eastern province of Nangarhar, on the border with Pakistan.

At first glance, it looks like any other normal market offering everyday goods. But in reality, this is one of Afghanistan's biggest opium markets. Farmers from Nangarhar and other adjacent provinces bring opium to Shaddle to sell. Much of it comes from Nangarhar and Helmand - two of Afghanistan's biggest opium-producing provinces.

[continues 923 words]

U.N. Report Describes a Scale of Narcotics Production Not Seen in Two Centuries

UNITED NATIONS -- Opium production in Afghanistan has increased by 34 percent over the past year, and the country is now the source of 93 percent of the heroin, morphine and other opiates on the world market, according to a report by the United Nations' anti-drug agency.

"Afghanistan's opium production has thus reached a frighteningly new level, twice the amount produced just two years ago," says the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime's annual opium survey, released Monday in Kabul.

[continues 352 words]

The UN reported on Monday that there had been a "frightening" explosion in opium production in Afghanistan with Helmand province, where Britain has 7,000 troops deployed, leading the way. A record crop means that the country now accounts for 93% of the world's supply and the situation is getting worse daily despite billions being spent to eradicate the trade since 2001. Here the Guardian asks experts in the field what can be done to bring production of the drug to an end.

[continues 1397 words]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Opium cultivation in Afghanistan grew by 17 percent in 2007, reaching record levels for the second straight year, according to a United Nations report released Monday.

Despite a $600 million American counternarcotics effort and an increase in the number of poppy-free provinces to 13 from 6, the report found that the amount of land in Afghanistan used for opium production is now larger than amount of land used for coca cultivation in all of Latin America.

Afghanistan now accounts for 93 percent of the world's opium, up from 92 percent last year, the report said.

[continues 724 words]

Despite 7,000 UK Troops, Taliban-Backed Production Up 48%

Britain's drug policy in Afghanistan's Helmand province lay in tatters yesterday as the UN declared a "frightening" explosion in opium production across the country, led by Taliban-backed farmers in the volatile south. Opium production soared by 34% to 8,200 tonnes, accounting for 93% of world supply and most of the heroin sold in Britain and Europe, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported.

The record crop was fuelled by Helmand, where, despite the deployment of 7,000 British soldiers and millions of pounds in development spending, opium cultivation surged by 48%.

[continues 630 words]

Fighting sleaze is no easy task in a country like Afghanistan, as anti-corruption tsar Izzatullah Wasifi can testify. The economy is awash with opium money, and bribery and backhanders are rife, as confirmed by yesterday's alarming UN report. Then again, Mr Wasifi is unusually well acquainted with the perilous lure of easy drug money.

Twenty years ago US police arrested a young Afghan emigrant at his hotel room in Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. The Afghan, who introduced himself as Mr E, tried to sell a bag of heroin to an undercover detective. At his trial, prosecutors said it was worth $2m.

[continues 1046 words]

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan - Afghanistan produced record levels of opium in 2007 for the second straight year, led by a staggering 45 percent increase in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand Province, according to a new United Nations survey to be released Monday.

The report is likely to touch off renewed debate about the United States' $600 million counternarcotics program in Afghanistan, which has been hampered by security challenges and endemic corruption within the Afghan government.

"I think it is safe to say that we should be looking for a new strategy," said William B. Wood, the American ambassador to Afghanistan, commenting on the report's overall findings. "And I think that we are finding one."

[continues 1183 words]

WASHINGTON - Capt. Doug Dunlap and Master Sgt. Jim Schulte are battle-hardened Missouri National Guard veterans with tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan behind them.

But both returned a few weeks ago from a quite different type of mission, having used their other area of expertise - as Missouri farmers.

Dunlap and Schulte are involved in the early phase of an American effort to turn around Afghanistan's struggling agricultural sector, which employs about 80 percent of the nation's people.

[continues 1264 words]

Simultaneously Stressed and Bored, U.S. Soldiers Are Turning to the Widely Available Drug for a Quick Escape.

Just outside the main gate to Bagram airfield, a U.S. military installation in Afghanistan, sits a series of small makeshift shops known by locals as the Bagram Bazaar. For Afghans, it is the place to buy American goods, but the stalls that make up the heart of the bazaar are also well known for what they provide American soldiers stationed at Bagram. Walking through the bazaar it takes less than 10 minutes for a vendor in his early 20s to step out and ask, "You want whiskey?" "No, heroin," I tell him. He ushers me into his store with a smile.

[continues 4109 words]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Afghanistan will produce another record poppy harvest this year that cements its status as the world's near-sole supplier of the heroin source, yet a furious debate over how to reverse the trend is stalling proposals to cut the crop, U.S. officials say.

As President Bush prepares for weekend talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, divisions within the U.S. administration and among NATO allies have delayed release of a $475 million counternarcotics program for Afghanistan, where intelligence officials see growing links between drugs and the Taliban, the officials said.

[continues 793 words]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- With this conflict-torn country on track to produce another record amount of opium this year, U.S. officials want to significantly step up efforts to eradicate poppy crops before the fall harvest. The problem for the U.S. officials is that their Afghan and North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies oppose their aggressive plans. The United Nations estimates that farmers in Afghanistan are cultivating about 457,000 acres of poppy, the source of opium. That would represent a 10% increase from last year and an 80% jump from the 254,000 acres harvested in 2005, according to the U.N.

[continues 674 words]

Last Year's Crop Accounted For 90% Of World's Heroin Supply

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghanistan's counternarcotics minister has resigned only weeks after Afghan laborers finished cultivating an opium poppy crop that could exceed last year's record haul.

Habibullah Qaderi's resignation, confirmed by a deputy minister Sunday, came as U.S. and Afghan officials debate privately whether to use herbicides to reduce the drug problem.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai rejected that approach for the 2007 growing season, partly because some Afghans fear the chemicals could affect livestock, legitimate crops and drinking water, fears the U.S. says are unfounded. Much of the profit from the country's $3.1 billion drug trade is thought to fund the Taliban's campaign against the government. Officials said Sunday recent clashes between police and insurgents left 11 suspected militants dead in the south, while Taliban fighters ambushed police in Kandahar province, wounding 15 officers.

[continues 168 words]

KHOSAN--With widespread unemployment in this Afghan border town has come a growing epidemic of drug abuse. Khosan, 10 miles from Iran, is a transit point for smugglers, and residents here say that their town is awash in hashish and opium that is available in nearly every market shop. Two bean-size rocks of the newest and most popular drug here, crystal opium, sell for $2.

The situation is serious, says the head of the local women's council, who estimates that 2 out of every 3 women in town use drugs. "Most of the ladies don't have anything to do during the day, so they are becoming addicted," says Ziagol Tajik. The numbers are similar for the men, says another senior leader here.

[continues 590 words]

There Would Still Be Much Illegal 'Leakage,' He Says

Many have touted it as a simple and compelling solution to Afghanistan's chronic poppy problem: legalize the world-leading opium trade to take it out of the hands of criminals and terrorists.

The controversial Senlis Council, the federal Liberal Party, a major Canadian foreign policy think tank, even a former Canadian NATO ambassador have all advocated some form of legal and controlled opium production. Doing so, they argue, would deprive drug dealers of massive profits while easing the pain of the world's sick and putting money into the pockets of poor Afghan farmers.

[continues 475 words]

Illicit Drug Production Would Carry On, He Warns

OTTAWA - Many have touted it as a simple and compelling solution to Afghanistan's chronic poppy problem: legalize the world-leading opium trade to take it out of the hands of criminals and terrorists.

The controversial Senlis Council, the federal Liberal party, a major Canadian foreign policy think-tank, even a former Canadian NATO ambassador have all advocated some form of legal and controlled opium production. Doing so, they argue, would deprive drug dealers of massive profits while easing the pain of the world's sick and putting money into the pockets of poor Afghan farmers.

[continues 310 words]

The Taleban Aren't Going To Like This . . .

Britain leads a #1-billion-a-year international programme to eradicate illicit opium production in Afghanistan by destroying farmers' poppies and persuading them to grow other crops.

As an anti-narcotics strategy, this programme is a demonstrable failure.

In terms of counter-terrorism, it is a disaster.

But a scheme unveiled this week can, finally, offer some hope.

Six years into the eradication programme, Afghanistan produces 92 per cent of the world's opium, more than ever before.

[continues 881 words]