REPORT: AFGHAN POPPY PRODUCTION TRIPLES

WASHINGTON - More than three years after a pro-U.S. government was
installed, Afghanistan has been unable to contain opium poppy
production and is "on the verge of becoming a narcotics state," a
presidential report said Friday.

The report said the area in Afghanistan devoted to poppy cultivation
last year set a record of 206,700 hectares, or 510,549 acres, more
than triple the figure for 2003.

The Afghan narcotics situation, "represents an enormous threat to
world stability, the report said.

It listed opium production at 4,950 metric tons, 17 times more than
second place Myanmar.

Opium poppy is the raw material for heroin.

The massive study, covering the illicit narcotics situation in 2004 in
virtually all countries, was transmitted to the Congress by Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice on behalf of President Bush.

Colombia remains a major drug country, the report said, despite
impressive progress. It credited Colombia's public security forces
with preventing hundreds of tons of illicit drugs from reaching the
world market through interdiction, spraying of coca and poppy crops
and manual eradication.

The United States has been a major counterdrug partner of Colombia,
having contributed billions of dollars to the effort since 2000.

Colombia is the source of over 90 percent of the cocaine and 50
percent of the heroin entering the United States, the report said.