Pakistan seeks more anti-drug aid

By Paul Anderson
BBC News, Islamabad

Afghan opium cultivation has expanded dramatically

Pakistan has appealed for more international help to fight the flow of opium and heroin from Afghanistan.

The appeal came as the UN International Narcotics Control Board launched its 2004 report on the global drug scourge.

It focuses on the gigantic rise in opium production in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taleban in 2001.

The head of Pakistan's anti-narcotics force says the country needs more detection equipment and more money to pay for ground forces.

As Afghan opium production soars, 70% is smuggled through Pakistan and Iran to markets in the west and the east.

Ill-equipped

Just four years ago Pakistan was designated a country free of opium but its clean reputation is fast evaporating as growers again start to seed land on the remote Afghan border with poppy.

There is also a massively expanded smuggling operations of Afghan opium and heroin.

"Pakistan is likely to see an upsurge in poppy cultivation, the reverse flow of laboratories from Afghanistan into Pakistan," said the head of Pakistan's anti-narcotics force, Major-General Nadeem Ahmed.

He believes Pakistan is not equipped to face the drugs challenge.

"When we look at the resource of the international community to Pakistan, it is not commensurate with the task or with the output of Pakistan counter-narcotics agency," he said.

HIV fear

He appealed for more helicopter gunships to fight increasingly sophisticated and well-armed smugglers, more detection equipment and more money to pay for ground forces.

He said the paramilitary body assigned to assist drugs enforcement teams, the Frontier Corps, had been diverted to counter-terrorism activities on the Afghan border, making his task even more difficult.

Officials are also worried about Pakistan's own increasing opium and heroin consumption and the spread of the HIV virus by intravenous drugs users.

Pakistan is currently defined as a low-prevalence, high-risk country but many believe once HIV infection among drugs users reaches a critical mass, then it will quickly spread among the general population.