The farmers anticipate another bumper crop. Nato has given up the pretence it can destroy Afghanistan's opium fields. In Helmand, scene of the fiercest fighting with the Taliban, the area under poppy cultivation has doubled within two years. The record harvest will soon be feeding the habit of Britain's heroin addicts.

Nato commanders say that to try to eradicate the crop would simply be to drive the population in southern Afghanistan into the arms of the Taliban. That in turn would invite military defeat. Yet these same generals also know that the enormous profits of the opium trade keep the enemy fed and equipped.

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