KARZAI ENCOURAGES AFGHANS TO SHUN DRUG USE, PRODUCTION

Despite ban on poppy planting, opium trade making a comeback

KABUL, Afghanistan - A giant white banner strung across a war-ruined
building urged the Islamic faithful Wednesday to shun drug use and
production - a message hammered home during a ceremony to mark an
international day against drug abuse and trafficking.

"Will you fight against drugs?" newly elected President Hamid Karzai asked
a group of young girls, their heads covered in bright red scarves.

"Yes," they shouted.

Shouts of support also came from rows of young boys, all wearing white
shirts with the slogan, "Sports against drugs." They were gathered for the
ceremony at Kabul University to mark International Day against Drug Abuse
and Illicit Trafficking.

"You are our future," Mr. Karzai said, speaking from a podium decorated
with a map of Afghanistan emblazoned with the words "Wheat instead of drugs."

For Afghanistan, the problem of drug production is a big one. In the final
years of the hard-line Taliban regime, leader Mullah Mohammed Omar banned
the growing of the poppies from which farmers extract opium, the raw
material for heroin production.

To the surprise of much of the world, it worked. Afghanistan went from
being the world's largest producer of opium to virtually opium-free in a
single season.

Then the Taliban collapsed under the U.S.-led assault to punish them for
harboring Osama bin Laden, blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon.

With the collapse of the Taliban, farmers in Afghanistan ripped up their
wheat crops, stunted by a severe drought, and planted poppies.

International drug officials said that because of the timing of the
Taliban's fall, poppy planting began late into the season and harvests are
smaller than they might have been.

Despite the late planting, a drought in its fourth year, and Mr. Karzai's
ban on planting, Afghanistan is expected to produce up to 2,700 tons of
opium, according to the United Nations. This is the same level as the
mid-1990s, but below the 1999 peak of 4,000 tons.

There are no reliable statistics on drug abuse in Afghanistan because the
country was too poor and too deeply in turmoil to afford a research and
control program.

However, use of opium and hashish is widespread in some areas, and drugs
are sold openly despite efforts by the new government to curb the practice.