DASHTAK, Afghanistan -- The village of Dashtak sits on a bumpy, washed-out specter of a road, an hour's drive off the main highway between Kabul and Afghanistan's lawless southeast. It has 16 new wells financed by an aid agency. But the village men who gather around a visiting journalist offer a litany of complaints: no paved roads, no running water, no electricity, and the closest health clinic is two hours away by donkey. Their frustration boils over when talk turns to 10 villagers recently arrested on suspicion of aiding insurgents. [continues 1415 words]
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN -- Opium cultivation in Afghani-stan has hit record levels -- up by more than 40 percent from 2005 -- despite hundreds of millions in counternarcotics money, Western officials said. The increase could have serious repercussions for an already grave security situation, with drug lords joining the Taliban-led fight against Afghan and international forces. A Western anti-narcotics official in Kabul said about 370,650 acres of opium poppy was cultivated this season -- up from 257,000 acres in 2005 -- citing their preliminary crop projections. The previous record was 323,700 acres in 2004, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. [continues 329 words]
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - Opium cultivation in Afghanistan has hit record levels - up more than 40 percent from 2005 - despite hundreds of millions in counternarcotics money, Western officials told The Associated Press. The increase could have serious repercussions for an already grave security situation, with drug lords joining the Taliban-led fight against Afghan and international forces. A Western antinarcotics official in Kabul said about 370,650 acres of opium poppy was cultivated this season - up from 257,000 acres in 2005 - - citing their preliminary crop projections. The previous record was 323,700 acres in 2004, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. [continues 339 words]
