Increase in Cultivation Blamed on Economy Wracked by Violence KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghanistan's world-leading opium cultivation rose a "staggering" 60 percent this year, the U.N. anti-drugs chief announced Saturday in urging the government to crack down on big traffickers and remove corrupt officials. The record crop yielded 6,100 tons of opium, or enough to make 610 tons of heroin -- outstripping the demand of the world's heroin users by a third, according to U.N. figures. Officials warned that the illicit trade is undermining the Afghan government, which is under attack by Islamic militants driven from power by a U.S.-led offensive in late 2001 for harboring Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida bases. "The news is very bad. On the opium front today in some of the provinces of Afghanistan, we face a state of emergency," Antonio Maria Costa, chief of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, said at a news conference. "In the southern provinces, the situation is out of control." He talked with reporters after presenting results of the U.N. survey to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who voiced "disappointment" over the figures. "Our efforts to fight narcotics have proved inadequate," Karzai said in a statement. With the economy struggling, there are not enough jobs, and many Afghans say they have to grow opium poppies to feed their families. The trade already accounts for at least 35 percent of Afghanistan's economy, financing Taliban warlords and insurgents. [continues 228 words]
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Anti-drug police from Colombia have been touring Afghanistan to advise it on how to combat its booming illegal drug trade, officials said Tuesday. A five-member team from Colombia, the world's leading producer of cocaine, has spent 10 days meeting counternarcotics police and officials around Afghanistan, the top heroin-producing nation. Colombian Interdiction chief Lt. Col. Oscar Atehortua, listens for a question during a press conference in Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2006. Anti-drugs police from top world cocaine producer Colombia have been touring top heroin producing nation Afghanistan, to advise on how the lawless country can combat its booming drugs trade, officials said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq) (Musadeq Sadeq - AP) PHOTOS [continues 253 words]
KABUL, Afghanistan --Anti-drug police from Colombia have been touring Afghanistan to advise it on how to combat its booming illegal drug trade, officials said Tuesday. A five-member team from Colombia, the world's leading producer of cocaine, has spent 10 days meeting counternarcotics police and officials around Afghanistan, the top heroin-producing nation. Lt. Col. Oscar Atehortua, the chief of the Colombian team's drug interdiction unit, said they had been sharing their "expertise and experience" from 30 years of battling drugs and terrorist groups involved in the illicit trade, and may help train Afghans in the future. [continues 210 words]
Taliban, Drug Lords, Poppy Growers All Have Stake In Thwarting Effort To Bring Rule Of Law KABUL, Afghanistan -- Southern Afghanistan, homeland of the Taliban and hub of the global heroin trade, is spinning out of control. Islamic militants are launching suicide attacks, corrupt authorities are undermining the central government and a disgruntled population is hooked on growing opium. On Monday, fixing Afghanistan's biggest problem area falls to NATO, the Western military alliance. It promises to be the toughest combat mission in NATO's 57-year history, and a stern test for a powerful force with surprisingly little experience in fighting. [continues 972 words]
Military Alliance Faces Growing Taliban Power, Opium Trade KABUL, Afghanistan - Southern Afghanistan, homeland of the Taliban and hub of the global heroin trade, is spinning out of control. Islamic militants are launching suicide attacks, corrupt authorities are undermining the central government, and a disgruntled population is hooked on growing opium. On Monday, fixing Afghanistan's biggest problem area falls to NATO, the Western military alliance. This promises to be the toughest combat mission in NATO's 57-year history, and a stern test for a powerful force with surprisingly little experience in fighting. [continues 651 words]
QUETTA, Pakistan - Ragged men with sickly yellowed faces tread through trash and wastewater to the junkie slum in Quetta's main drain - a pit of filth and disease where heroin from nearby Afghanistan sells like candy. They call it home, this scene from hell in the southwestern Pakistan city of Quetta. For a dollar they can smoke away their troubles. If they die, the pushers will pay other addicts to dump the bodies by the road. Tentacles of the booming narcotics trade reach from Afghanistan, 2 1/2 hours' drive away, into Quetta's back streets where the drug is smoked or injected, and into the pockets of corrupt officials and police. [continues 415 words]
QUETTA, Pakistan - A small airplane with a heat-seeing camera flies over moonlit, craggy desert along the Pakistan-Afghan frontier, circling suspicious convoys of vehicles that appear with amazing clarity on a monochrome screen. In an effort to improve border security and stanch the flow of heroin trafficked from top world producer Afghanistan, the U.S. has supplied Pakistan with 10 Huey helicopters and three Cessna Caravan planes with high-tech surveillance equipment. But a chronic shortage of dedicated ground forces to pounce on smugglers limits their impact. And rampant corruption that a former Afghan trafficker says infects security forces and officials on both sides of the border helps fuel the booming narcotics trade to Pakistan, across Europe and the United States. [continues 736 words]
Fall Of Taliban Revived Cultivation Of Opium Poppies KABUL, Afghanistan - U.N. and Afghan officials have called for U.S.-led coalition forces to help combat the booming drug trade that profits both warlords with links to the government and terror groups fighting against it. Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium, the raw material of heroin, and last year accounted for about three-quarters of the global supply. Production increased dramatically after the fall of the hard-line Taliban regime, which had successfully banned cultivation of opium poppies. [continues 323 words]
BANGKOK, Thailand - Methamphetamine, also known as speed, is the worst drug menace facing the United States and a growing threat in Asia, the U.S. drug control chief said Friday. Criminal organizations that produce heroin have found that methamphetamine is easy to make and offers bigger profits, said Barry McCaffrey, the White House national drug policy director. Stimulants also pose a huge threat in Thailand, China, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Japan, he said in Bangkok, on the last leg of a three-nation Asian tour. [continues 318 words]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Methamphetamine, also known as speed, is the worst drug menace facing the United States and a growing threat in Asia, the U.S. drug control chief said Friday. Criminal organizations that produce heroin have found that methamphetamine is easy to make and offers bigger profits, said Barry McCaffrey, the White House national drug policy director. Stimulants also pose a huge threat in Thailand, China, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Japan, he said in Bangkok, on the last leg of a three-nation Asian tour. [continues 319 words]
