Afghan Opium Cultivation Hits a Record

A man smokes opium at the old city in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug 11, 2006. Preliminary surveys show opium cultivation in Afghanistan has hit record-breaking levels this year _ up by more than 40 percent on 2005 _ despite hundreds of millions in aid aimed at stopping the nation's slide into narco-dependency, Western anti-drugs officials tell The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) (Rodrigo Abd - AP)

"(That) kind of revenue from that kind of crop aids and abets the enemy," Chief Master Sgt. Curtis L. Brownhill, a senior adviser to the head of the U.S. Central Command, during a recent visit to Afghanistan. "They count on having that sort of resource and money."

Afghanistan has seen its deadliest bout of fighting this year since U.S.-backed forces toppled the Taliban for harboring Osama bin Laden. Officials believe the insurgency, most vicious in the south _ Afghanistan's main poppy belt _ includes die-hard Taliban, warlords and drug lords and smugglers.

Fears of fanning the insurgency has constrained efforts to destroy the poppy crops of impoverished farmers _ particularly in Helmand, where the area being cultivated for poppies has increased most sharply. The province now accounts for more than 40 percent of the poppy cultivation nationwide.

"We know that if we start eradicating the whole surface of poppy cultivation in Helmand, we will increase the activity of the insurgency and increase the number of insurgents," said Tom Koenigs, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan.

He said the international community needs to provide alternative livelihoods for farmers, but warned against expecting quick results. "The problem has increased, and the remedy has to adjust," he told reporters recently.

Since the fall of the Taliban, the international community, led by the U.S. and Britain, has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to combat the drugs trade.

There have been some successes. Nangahar province, with the help of a strong governor and police chief, reduced opium output by 96 percent in 2005. Since March, anti-drug police units have raided 10 drug labs throughout the country, seizing 2,700 pounds of heroin and nearly 1,763 pounds of opium.

Next week, the Afghan government will present a wide-ranging anti-drugs strategy. Officials are moving to amend laws, train judges and prosecutors, build high security prisons and establish special courts for drug barons and senior drug smugglers.

This year's increased poppy cultivation follows a 21 percent drop the previous year, suggesting the government has not followed through on warnings to farmers against planting poppies. Although 37,065 acres of poppies were eradicated this year, according to the Ministry for Counternarcotics, a campaign by police to destroy crops fell short of expectation.

Gen. Khodaidad, a top official at the ministry, said virtually all cultivated land in Helmand _ including government-owned land _ has been planted with opium poppies.

"We expected a large number (crop) this year but Helmand unfortunately exceeded even our predictions," the U.S. official said.