TALIBAN PROMISES TO UPROOT OPIUM POPPIES

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan Leaders of the Taliban, the rigorously Islamic
movement that controls most of Afghanistan, have agreed to uproot new poppy
crops in part of the country as soon as they appear and to destroy any
heroin laboratories in the country.

The pledges came as a surprise to the head of the U.N. drug control agency,
Pino Arlacchi, who said Monday that he had expected the Taliban leaders to
take a harder line in negotiating. They gave him a general commitment a
month ago to eliminate poppy production.

Afghanistan accounts for half the world's production of opium poppies, from
which heroin is made, and is the first target of an ambitious U.N. plan to
eliminate the production of the poppies worldwide in a decade.

The Taliban also unexpectedly proposed to eradicate all poppy cultivation
within one year, but this schedule was reluctantly rejected by Arlacchi.

"It is too radical," said Arlacchi, an Italian professor and politician who
made a reputation fighting the Mafia and became head of the United Nations
Drug Control Program in September.

He said he had encouraged the Taliban to proceed more slowly, until the
United Nations was able to come up with money for development projects that
would provide income for poppygrowing farmers. Otherwise, only coercion
can achieve the Taliban goal, Arlacchi said, and that would backfire.

Still, Arlacchi was particularly exultant about a promise from the Taliban
to allow women to work in a textile factory on the edge of town, which the
United Nations will help rehabilitate. The extent of this commitment is not
clear. But if it is fulfilled, it will be something of a breakthrough in
the Taliban's treatment of women.

But the path to a poppyfree Afghanistan is fraught with potential perils,
not the least of which is the nature of the Taliban government.

The Taliban, who began their march to power three years ago, now control
about threequarters of Afghanistan, including just about all of the
poppygrowing regions.

Only three countries have recognized the Taliban as the Afghan government:
Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. On her recent visit,
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright described the Taliban's treatment of
women and children as "despicable." Women are not allowed to work and must
be fully covered when outdoors, and girls are barred from going to school.

Arlacchi said he thought that the Taliban had embarked on a poppy
eradication program in an effort to overcome their negative image in the
world.

"I told them: `Your image is bad. Nobody likes you. You are isolated.' "
Arlacchi said. "I told them bluntly, `You have two problems drugs and
women.' "

He said he believed that the Taliban would deliver on their commitment,
noting that they had virtually eliminated the use of hashish, long common
here. And with their dictatorial powers, the Taliban have also successfully
put many other Draconian measures into effect.

Taliban officials said their commitment to eradicate poppy came from the
Koran, which forbids the use of drugs, the governor of Kandahar Province,
Mohammed Hassan, said in a conversation after his meeting with Arlacchi.

In exchange for the commitment to eradicate poppy cultivation, the Taliban
want help from the United Nations in rebuilding the country, which has been
devastated by nearly 20 years of war.