PUSHING BACK AGAINST THE TALIBAN

With the Taliban raising the tempo of its attacks, U.S. forces in
Afghanistan last week launched Operation Mountain Thrust, billed as
the largest offensive since 2001, against militant strongholds in the
southeastern provinces of Helmand, Uruzgan, Kandahar, and Zabul.
Taking part: about 2,300 U.S. conventional and special forces, along
with 3,300 troops from Britain, 2,200 troops from Canada, about 3,500
Afghan soldiers, and coalition air support. Aid and development
programs, such as building roads and clinics, have lagged in many
parts of the country because of the lack of security. But there is
another factor that undermines Afghan stability--a resurgence in the
production of opium, the raw material for heroin, as farmers defy a
Karzai government ban. In impoverished Helmand province, for
instance, opium poppy cultivation is up 50 percent from last year.
The poppy crop, which accounts for about half of the total local
income, finances drug traffickers, corrupt government officials, and
the resurgent Taliban.