AFGHAN OPIUM TRADE THRIVES

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - With Afghan opium production on the rise, the U.N.'s
top representative in Afghanistan says it will take up to 10 years to
destroy the country's narcotics industry.

The dire prediction, delivered by Lakhdar Brahimi on Wednesday, followed a
report last week by the U.N. drug control agency citing Afghanistan as the
world's largest opium poppy producer. The report said growers and sellers
had taken advantage of a power vacuum during the U.S.-led war, and the
collapse of the Taliban regime, to kick-start opium production after a
two-year lull.

"Unfortunately, a significant increase in opium production is forseen this
year," Brahimi told the Security Council.

"Expectations are that it will take the best part of a decade before opium
production is eradicated as strengthened legal and security measures and
the creation of alternative livelihoods become more effective realities,"
he said.