US TO TACKLE AFGHAN DRUGS TRADE

The US has announced a major new offensive against drug production in
Afghanistan.

Washington expects to spend an extra $780m in the next financial year on
measures including the eradication of poppies and alternatives for farmers.

The drugs trade accounts for about a third of the country's economy.

The new measures have been unveiled just before the UN is expected to
release figures showing a dramatic increase in Afghanistan's drug trade.

Primary concern

US officials describe the new plan as a full-board commitment to support
the new Afghan government in its battle against the growing drugs trade.

Robert Charles, assistant secretary of state for International Narcotics
and Law Enforcement, described poppy cultivation as a primary, if not the
primary, concern for the country.

Asked why international initiatives had so far failed to arrest its growth,
he highlighted the lack of basic legal infrastructure and the lack of
people trained to destroy poppy fields.

Now the US, with the UK and Afghan governments, is launching an accelerated
programme to target next year's crop.

Aggressive eradication would be backed up, Mr Charles said, by a public
information campaign, better law enforcement and, perhaps most crucial,
real alternatives for farmers.

"You don't go in and eradicate in an area without making provision... for a
marked up or added alternative development resources, or alternative
livelihoods," he said.

"That is a very important component of any comprehensive plan and that is
what the Afghans want and that is what we are working very closely on to
produce."

Blossoming trade

Some say lawlessness in key areas makes the implementation of such
programmes impossible.

Mr Charles said he did not foresee a radical new need for security.

But he admitted it was a step-by-step process and they had to start by
targeting areas secure enough for eradication teams to access.

Afghanistan's blossoming drugs trade is causing increasing alarm.

It is now the source of about 75% of the world's opium poppies.

The trade fuels crime, international terrorism and political corruption.

Until now US officials have focused more on the election process. With that
over, they are free to give the drugs trade more attention.