UN calls for war on Afghan drugs

Production has surged since the end of the Taleban regime

Foreign troops must target traffickers if Afghanistan is to win its war on drugs, a senior UN official says.

Antonio Mario Costa, head of the UN office on drugs and crime, said a rare US raid on an Afghan opium-processing lab last month should be repeated.

US and Nato-led forces have so far resisted calls to tackle drugs traffickers, saying their first responsibility is to maintain security.

Three-quarters of the world's opium was produced in Afghanistan last year.

The UN and other agencies have warned the country risks becoming economically dependent on the drug trade.

I don't think we can call it a narco-state now but Afghanistan is obviously at a critical juncture Antonio Maria Costa, UN Office on Drugs and Crime Click here for chart of recent Afghan opium cultivation

Mr Costa told a major conference in the capital, Kabul, on Tuesday that a bombing raid by American warplanes against a northern opium processing plant last month had sent ripples through the Afghan drugs world.

He said it was crucial that similar military action took place if the country was to win its war against drugs.

He warned that Afghanistan was at risk of becoming a narco state because corruption was aggravating the drugs problem.

"The more we tolerate that [corruption], the more dangerous the situation becomes," Mr Costa said.

Military action

The UN drugs chief pointed out that a number of authoritative people - in Kabul and the provinces - allowed drug trafficking and cultivation.

Farmers have few other cash crops

He said the government needed to make a "delicate decision" about how to counteract corrupt officials.

Mr Costa says there is mounting evidence that drug money is being used to finance criminal activities.

"Fighting drug trafficking equals fighting terrorism," he said.

Mr Costa's comments came as Nato Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer - also on a visit to Kabul - warned that security remains fragile all over Afghanistan.

But he stressed on Monday that counter-narcotics operations were not the prime responsibility of international peacekeepers.

'Alternative livelihoods'

Afghan President Hamid Karzai used the conference to call for greater international support in tackling the country's growing drugs problem.

He has banned opium poppy cultivation and trafficking but the drug industry has blossomed since the overthrow of the country's hardline former rulers, the Taleban.

Mr Karzai stressed the need for greater efforts to develop "alternative livelihoods" for poppy farmers.

Nearly 7% of the Afghan population is said to now work in the opium trade, earning as much as Afghanistan receives in foreign aid.

Mr Karzai said poverty forced many farmers to keep growing poppies - a claim some drugs control experts dispute.

Earlier delegates conceded that it would be difficult to find any crop to compete with the profits from opium, which is why many put greater emphasis on law enforcement measures such as the forced eradication of poppy fields.

The Afghan Government is seeking $300m in donations to fund a campaign aimed at reducing opium production by 70% within four years and cracking down on money laundering.

Britain, which helped to organise the drug summit, has contributed about $128m over three years to the campaign.

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