TALEBAN ARE TOP HEROIN SUPPLIERS

The Taleban rulers of Afghanistan have become the world's biggest producers
and smugglers of hard drugs, overtaking rings in Colombia and Burma. They
are now responsible for 95 per cent of all the heroin entering Britain.

Last year Afghanistan produced 4,600 tonnes of opium, more than twice as
much as in 1998, according to the United Nations. The country's opium
output is three times more than the rest of the world put together, the UN
Drug Control Programme said. Almost all of it is grown in areas controlled
by Taleban.

The Foreign Office has announced grants of more than pounds 2.2 million to
help the UN to fight the flow from producers such as Afghanistan and Latin
America.

Much of it will be spent on enforcing a security cordon around Afghanistan
and strengthening drug policing in the Balkans, the main smuggling route
for Britain-bound heroin. British officials said yesterday that the recent
favourable climate, the continuing fighting, a lack of security and a
drastic cutback in un manpower inside Afghanistan had all led to the
upsurge in production.

Analysts say that drug money is now overwhelmingly the main source of
income for Taleban. A 20 per cent tax collected from opium dealers and
transporters buys weapons and essential supplies. A similar tax is levied
by the opposition alliance in the north east on shipments crossing into
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Drug dealers are said to operate the only Afghan
banking system, offering farmers credit for poppy crops.

In the 1980s, Afghan opium was exported to the west through Pakistan, but
now there are many routes out through Iran, the Gulf states and Central
Asia. Britain recently gave Iran money to strengthen patrols along the
Afghan border.

The projects will be run by the UN Drug Control Programme, to which Britain
is the third largest donor. The Foreign Office will spend pounds 6 million
fighting drugs, both in supporting international controls and on direct
aid. Western diplomats are alarmed, however, that moves to contain the drug
trade and crime rings in Afghanistan are proving impossible. Transit
countries are falling victim: Pakistan has the world's highest heroin
addiction.