KABUL - Afghan opium cultivation and production again reached historic highs in 2014, UN officials reported Wednesday. And in a sign of how deeply entwined drug trafficking and the Afghan political system have become, the officials said protracted elections this year were at least part of the cause.

"With the presidential election ongoing there was a huge demand of funding," said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, a senior official with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. "And that funding is not available in the licit economy, and that money has to come from somewhere, so they turned to the illicit economy."

[continues 260 words]