U.S. ABANDONS HOPE OF CUTTING OPIUM FLOW

American officials have abandoned their hopes of reducing Afghanistan's
opium production substantially this year and are now bracing for a harvest
large enough to inundate the world's heroin and opium markets with cheap drugs.

While American and European officials have considered measures like paying
Afghan opium poppy farmers to plow under their fields, they have concluded
that continuing lawlessness and political instability will make significant
eradication all but impossible.

Instead, U.S. officials said, they will pursue a less ambitious strategy:
persuading Afghan leaders to carry out a modest eradication program as
opium poppies are harvested over the next two months.