Nato general seeks opium assault

By Mark Easton
BBC News Home Editor

Bumper poppy harvests have increased the supply of opium

Nato's top operations commander is calling for more aggressive tactics against the opium trade in Afghanistan.

Gen John Craddock will tell defence ministers meeting in Budapest that troops should focus on targets like drug dealers and laboratories.

His comments come amid fears that international drug cartels have hidden thousands of tonnes of heroin in secret warehouses close to the opium fields.

Gen Craddock wants a "decisive assault" launched against the opium trade.

He argues that it is bankrolling the Taleban insurgency to the tune of $100m (£57m) a year.

See a map of opium production

Some Nato ministers, however, are concerned that any crackdown would prompt a violent backlash against allied troops.

Gen John Craddock says the opium trade helps to fund the insurgency

The general's remarks come amid anxiety that opium production far exceeds global demand and that international drug cartels must have stockpiled huge quantities.

The head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, is urging the international community to "find the missing opium".

"These stockpiles are a time bomb for public health and global security," he warns.

For the past three years, production has been running at almost twice the level of global demand. The numbers just don't add up Mark Easton BBC home editor Read Mark's thoughts in full

It is estimated that bumper poppy harvests have yielded twice as much opium as needed to satisfy every known heroin user on the planet.

British law enforcement officers working undercover in southern Afghanistan are reporting seizures of "enormous quantities of precursors" - the chemicals required to process opium - suggesting vast amounts of heroin may be hidden in the lawless region.

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