UN PLEADS FOR HELP TO FIGHT OPIUM TRADE

Southern Afghanistan

BRUSSELS - The UN drugs chief called yesterday for military action by
NATO troops to destroy Afghanistan's resurgent opium industry.

"In the turbulent southern region, counter-insurgency and
counter-narcotics efforts must reinforce each other so as to stop the
vicious circle of drugs funding terrorists and terrorists protecting
drug traffickers," Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on
Drugs and Crime, said in Brussels as he presented details of the
office's annual opium survey.

"I call on NATO forces to destroy the heroin labs, disband the open
opium bazaars, attack the opium convoys and bring to justice the big
traders. I invite coalition countries to give NATO the mandate and
resources required.

"This report is not pleasant reading."

But Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the NATO Secretary-General, rejected the
demand. "NATO does not have and is not seeking a leading role in the
indeed very important fight against narcotic trafficking," he said.
"I think it's a wrong approach."

The alliance has attempted to confine its role to military action and
reconstruction, leaving the fight against drugs to the Afghan authorities.

The UN report estimates opium cultivation increased by 59% for 2006,
leading to a bumper crop of 6,100 tonnes.

Mr. Costa was in Brussels for talks with Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the
European Union's external relations commissioner, and Habibullah
Qaderi, the Afghan Minister of Counter-Narcotics.

The UN drugs chief told a news conference after the meeting that the
fight against drug production in Afghanistan must be linked to
fighting poverty in the battle-scarred nation. "In a land as poor as
Afghanistan, farmers need sustainable, legal forms of income to
resist the temptation to grow opium," he said.

Mr. Qaderi conceded that Afghanistan needs to do more to tackle
corruption, but said its allies also need to do more to help local
security forces and promote rural development.

Ms. Ferrero-Waldner said the European Commission, the EU's executive
arm, is "the biggest contributor in the fight against poppy
cultivation, and in particular, to the creation of alternative livelihoods.

"We can point to some real success stories," she said. "Where
governance, security and development have improved, cultivation has
dropped. But clearly, this year's overall increase in cultivation is
disappointing."

Afghanistan is estimated to supply 92% of the world's opium. The
value of its 2006 crop is expected to top US$4-billion, up from
US$2.7-billion in 2005. This is "making a handful of criminals and
corrupt officials extremely rich," Mr. Costa said. "This money is
also dragging the rest of Afghanistan into a bottomless pit of
destruction and despair."

Washington is also worried that heroin is being used to fund the
Taliban insurgency. U.S. and European efforts to curb Afghanistan's
drug trade have been ineffective, a State Department official said in
Washington yesterday.

To counter the drug trade, the Bush administration will seek to
centralize drug-eradication efforts in Afghanistan and urge leaders
there to fire corrupt officials, the official said.

The administration is also discussing with NATO officials whether to
let the organization's troops be used more in eradication efforts.

Last week, the U.S. Senate voted to step up Washington's efforts to
fight Afghanistan's flourishing production of opium poppies, setting
aside US$700-million to fund the Defence Department's
counter-narcotics measures.