BUSH SEEKS END TO AFGHAN DRUGS

President Bush yesterday urged Afghan President Hamid Karzai to
eliminate his country's heroin trade, while Mr. Karzai said he was
"sad" that U.S. troops had abused Afghan prisoners.

Despite these points of friction, the two leaders signed an agreement
to increase cooperation on security, political and economic issues.
The agreement, among other things, called for ending production of
poppies in Afghanistan, the world's leading producer of the raw
material that is refined into heroin for the streets of the United
States.

"There's too much poppy cultivation in Afghanistan," Mr. Bush said
during an East Room press conference with Mr. Karzai. "I made it very
clear to the president that we have got to work together to eradicate
the poppy crop."

Mr. Bush also impressed upon Mr. Karzai the importance of "bringing
people to justice who are running drugs."

Mr. Karzai made clear that he accepted the responsibility.

"Yes, Mr. President, indeed, Afghanistan is suffering from the
cultivation of poppies, which is undermining our economy," he said.
"It's giving us a bad name, worst of all."

But he hastened to add that poppy production is on the
decline.

"We are hoping that Afghanistan this year will have something between
20 to 30 percent reduction in poppies all over the country," he said.
"If this trend continues, we'll have no poppies, hopefully, in
Afghanistan in another five or six years."

Mr. Karzai also spoke about U.S. troops abusing prisoners in Bagram,
Afghanistan, where two detainees died in 2002.

"We are, of course, sad about that," he said. "But let me make sure
that you all know that that does not reflect on the American people."

Mr. Karzai also met yesterday with Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, members of Congress and
new World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz.

Before the White House meeting, Mr. Karzai said he would press the
U.S. military to relinquish control of Afghan prisoners at Bagram. He
failed in that effort yesterday, but he emphasized that Afghanistan is
still heavily dependent on the U.S.

"Afghanistan will continue to need a lot of support," he
said.

Mr. Bush agreed.

"Part of the issue is to make sure there is a place where the
prisoners can be held," he said. "We want the people to be sent home,
but we've got to make sure the facilities are there."

Mr. Karzai also criticized Newsweek for publishing a story saying that
U.S. interrogators of detainees flushed a Koran down a toilet in a
prison at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Newsweek and the White
House said the article contributed to riots in Afghanistan that killed
16 persons.

"We are, as Muslims, very much unhappy with Newsweek bringing a matter
so serious in the gossip column," he said. "It's really something that
one shouldn't do, that responsible journalism shouldn't do at all."

But Mr. Karzai downplayed the effect of the story.

"Those demonstrations were, in reality, not related to the Newsweek
story," he said. "They were more against the elections in
Afghanistan."

The statement was cited by U.S. reporters who thought the
administration has been too tough on Newsweek. But White House
spokesman Scott McClellan refused to back down.

"The discredited report was damaging. It was used to incite violence,"
he said. "There are some that want to continue to defend what is a
discredited report that has been disavowed by Newsweek, and that's
their business."