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Opium production in Afghanistan is soaring out of control, the annual UN report on illegal drugs says.

The World Drug Report says more than 90% of illegal opium, which is used to make heroin, comes from Afghanistan. [...]

The report says that while global co-ordination of drug law enforcement has improved, traffickers of heroin from Afghanistan and of cocaine from Colombia are now targeting new routes in Africa.

The UN says this threat must be addressed immediately if Africa - already struggling under the burden of HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria - is to avoid the serious health damage caused by drug abuse.

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The picture in May 2001 was rather different:

Afghanistan's cash crop wilts

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Last year, Afghanistan was the world’s largest opium producer, with 75 percent of the world’s crop, a staggering output of some 3,500 tons of one of the most addictive drugs on earth. [...]

But last July, the Taliban’s leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, issued an extraordinary edict. It banned poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, calling drug production un-Islamic. Few in international law enforcement took Omar’s edict seriously — until now.

Earlier this month, an international delegation led by the United Nations Drug Control Program — which included two U.S. government narcotics experts —visited Afghanistan to study the impact of Omar’s ban.

Delegates told MSNBC.com that during the 10-day visit they found no evidence of poppy crops anywhere in the survey area, which concentrated on the biggest poppy-growing region of Afghanistan.

“There are no poppies,” said Bernard Frahi, the head of the U.N. program’s Afghanistan project. “It’s amazing.” [...]

The international community has shunned Afghanistan’s Islamic rulers over their human rights violations and their harboring of Osama bin Laden, the Saudi exile Washington blames for masterminding bombing attacks on U.S. interests. It also has remained silent about Afghanistan’s drug ban, outraging the Taliban.

Afghanistan’s ambassador at large, Rehmatullah Aga, told MSNBC.com that the failure of the West to praise the poppy ban in any way has made Afghanistan’s leaders more suspicious of the overall intentions of the international community.

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"ClA-supported Mujahedeen rebels ... engaged heavily in drug trafficking while fighting against the Soviet-supported government," writes historian William Blum. "The Agency's principal client was Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of the leading druglords and a leading heroin refiner. CIA-supplied trucks and mules, which had carried arms into Afghanistan, were used to transport opium to laboratories along the Afghan/Pakistan border. The output provided up to one half of the heroin used annually in the United States and three-quarters of that used in Western Europe. U.S. officials admitted in 1990 that they had failed to investigate or take action against the drug operation because of a desire not to offend their Pakistani and Afghan allies," and also because selling heroin and spreading misery is highly profitable. In fact, the Soviets attempted to impose an opium ban on the country and this resulted in a revolt by tribal groups eventually exploited by the CIA and Pakistan. . . .

"Prior to the WTC attacks, credible sources, including the U.S. government, the IMF, Le Monde and the U.S. Senate placed the amount of drug cash flowing into Wall Street and U.S. banks at around $250-$300 billion a year," not exactly small potatoes. see The CIA and Drugs

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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- The increasingly bloody terror attacks plaguing Afghanistan are largely a product of the Taliban's "symbiotic" relationship with narcotics cartels, says an RCMP officer who has been quietly tracking those ties.

Breaking the highly profitable alliance between the fundamentalist Muslims and the world's most prolific heroin traffickers is key to defeating the insurgency, said Insp. Paul Richards.

...The trade is contributing to problems closer to home, too. The "vast majority" of heroin on Canadian streets likely originated here, said Richards.

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The government is involved because much of the poppy crop is grown on state-owned land, with officials charging rent to poppy farmers, he said.

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Originally posted by quelar:
So, Opium production in Afghanistan dropped the last few years of the Taliban regime, but once the US was in there, it went back up.

Harper can't use it as an excuse for being there, clearly it's better if we're not.

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Well it is clear to us, now Harper is another matter altogether.

I can see the headlines and all emcompassing article quite easily, as there is obviously a build up towards something:

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PM Joins US War on Drugs to Halt Opium Production in Afganistan:

Earlier today, PM Harper announced that the Canadian military will join in a new counter offensive with the ISAF targeting Taliban opium operations. He cites severe affects of this production are being felt at home and the Taliban is using it to fund terrorism and to keep Afghans hostage are the factors behind this new offensive, Operation Killing Fields.

Harper said there is strong indications, from the Ministry of Defense and Foreign Affairs, that this will be the final thrust needed to end the Taliban's heroin production and thereby cut off terrorism and insurgency funding. This would make Afghanistan more secure for civilians and halt the flow heroin into Canada and points around the world.

By cutting off heroin funding, Harper says it will make a secure environment, so that reconstruction and aide efforts can go forward after the counter-insurrgency mission ends in February 2009.

Though he recognizes this new offensive will cost more Canadian lives, he said: "the troops know what they are there for, and they know they could lose their lives, and it is a sacrifice they are willing to make for security at home and for the future of Afghanistan".

He added, the opposition - who is clamouring for a pull out - just does not understand the dynamics and are playing politics with people's lives, both in Afghanistan, and at home.

Harper, striking further at the opposition, concluded the press conference with the statement: "the security of our Great nation is at stake and those who so bravely gave up their lives, will not have given them in vain. We will get this done."

No questions from the media were allowed

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When the war goes badly, you can change the focus of the message to supporting the troops.

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The author was referring to the war in Iraq. But, of course, prior to the Canadian role in counter-insurgency in Afghanistan, the war in Afghanistan was going "well". Now that it's going badly, the message is "support the troops".