BUMPER OPIUM CROP IN AFGHANISTAN

WASHINGTON - Afghanistan's opium poppy cultivation has soared, and this
year's harvest could be twice as large as last year's near-record crop
unless eradication efforts are stepped up immediately, a U.S. State
Department official said Thursday.

The heroin business is "almost definitely" filling the coffers of the
Taliban and Hizb-I Islami Gulbuddin, another Afghan extremist group linked
to Osama bin Laden, and "possibly" enriching al-Qaeda fighters as well, said
Robert Charles, assistant secretary of State for international narcotics and
law enforcement affairs.

In rare but carefully muted criticism of America's top ally, Charles said
British authorities had not done enough to eradicate poppies in their sector
in southern Afghanistan. He warned that failure to stop the bumper harvest,
which has already begun in some areas due to unusually warm weather, would
have devastating consequences not only for the global drug trade but also
for Afghan democracy. "This is crunch time in Afghanistan," Charles told a
congressional panel.