UN URGES NATO TROOPS: WIPE OUT OPIUM INDUSTRY

Anti-Drug Chief Links Efforts to Beat Taliban With Curbing Narcotics

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The United Nations urged NATO forces Tuesday to
take military action to destroy the opium industry in southern
Afghanistan, saying cultivation of the crop is out of control in the
embattled nation. U.N. anti-drug chief Antonio Maria Costa said opium
production is being used to fund terrorist groups, and that
eradicating it is crucial to establishing order in the south.

"In the turbulent southern region, counterinsurgency and
counter-narcotics efforts must reinforce each other so as to stop the
vicious circle of drugs funding terrorists and terrorists protecting
drug traffickers," Costa said. He urged NATO countries to give the
alliance the mandate and added resources to expand its mission in
southern Afghanistan and take action against production of the crop
used to make heroin.

"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," he said. Last week, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer said it was not planning to play a leading role in the fight
against narcotics in Afghanistan, but the alliance has suggested its
troops could play a backup role if they had the time and resources to
support Afghan forces and police in eradication of the crops.

Costa said his office had met with NATO to discuss the problem, and
he met Tuesday with European Union External Relations Commissioner
Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

"It's clear the mission of NATO in Afghanistan has evolved into a
full-fledged attempt to eradicate Taliban," he said, adding that NATO
would find it "very difficult" to defeat the Taliban and insurgents
in the south unless they cracked down on drug traffickers.

The U.N.'s Office on Drugs and Crime's annual survey of Afghanistan's
poppy crop in Kabul, released this month, said opium cultivation rose
59 percent this year to produce a record 6,100 tons of opium -- a
massive 92 percent of world supply.

Costa called for increased development aid from international donors
such as the European Union to get farmers off their dependency on
growing opium. Costa said the aid should be made conditional on
commitments by regional political leaders to fight opium cultivation
and to curb corruption. Costa also said the Afghan government should
step up policing to bring to justice drug traffickers, seizing their
assets such as houses and land. He said Afghan authorities also had
to do more to stem the import of chemicals needed to make heroin, and
to deter "the flow of volunteers, arms and money for the insurgency."

Other Developments NATO forces have recaptured territory in
southern Afghanistan from Taliban insurgents during an 11-day
operation that has killed at least 510 suspected militants, the
alliance said Tuesday. Security forces also killed 12 Taliban on
Tuesday and detained nearly 40.

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to extend the
authorization of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, expressing
concern at the upsurge in violence and terrorist activity by the
Taliban, al-Qaida and drug traffickers.

As she thanked Canada for its role as a leader of NATO forces in the
country, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged "difficult
going" fighting a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan, but insisted
Tuesday that the world cannot afford to pull out now.