AFGHANS' DRUG TRADE RUNS DEEP

UNITED NATIONS -- With Afghan opium production on the rise, the UN'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 UN 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 foreseen 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."

According to UN figures, the total opium production this year has been
estimated at about 3,400 tonnes, compared with 185 tonnes under the Taliban
in 2001. Still, Afghanistan was the world's leading producer of opium in
2000, even under the Taliban rule, controlling more than two-thirds of the
market.