DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - THE WEST/AFGHANISTAN: 90% OF WORLD'S HEROIN SUPPLY...SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF $3.1 BILLION U.S. TRADE IN HEROIN FLOWS TO TALIBAN

Anti-drugs, anti-terror efforts intertwined in Afghanistan
By Jason Straziuso

KABUL: Afghanistan’s opium poppy crop could rise 20 per cent this year over last year’s record haul, fuelling concerns that US and Nato forces need to play a bigger role in the drug fight, Western and Afghan officials say.

With growing drug profits flowing to the Taliban, the anti-narcotics and anti-terrorism efforts have become intertwined, officials say.

“It’s wrong to say that you can do one thing and not the other,” said Ronald Neumann, who recently stepped down as US ambassador to Afghanistan. “You have to deal with both at the same time.”

Afghanistan accounts for more than 90 per cent of the world’s heroin supply, and a significant portion of the profits from the US$3.1 billion trade are thought to flow to Taliban fighters who tax and protect poppy farmers and drug runners.

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