No more excuses, UN drugs chief says after record opium rise

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2006

KABUL (AFP) — With opium cultivation at an all-time high and even out of control in parts of Afghanistan, excuses for not cracking down on the trade are beginning to wear thin, the UN drugs chief said in an interview. Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, announced Saturday a nearly 60 percent jump in opium cultivation and a nearly 50 percent hike in the expected harvest to a record 6,100 tonnes.

Costa told AFP afterwards the increase was a "disaster" and urgent action was needed especially in the southern provinces where the Taliban insurgency is most violent and the rebels are said to earn money from protecting traffickers. Afghanistan produces 92 percent of the world's opium, most of which is used in Europe, Russia, China, Iran and...