BUSH SPARES KABUL DRUG SANCTIONS

The United States has waived narcotics sanctions against Afghanistan
despite the country's "demonstrable failure" to curb poppy cultivation, in
a move aimed at supporting the interim government in Kabul.

President George Bush also waived drugs sanctions against Haiti but kept
them in place against Burma as he rolled out the annual US review of
nations that either produce narcotics or are major transit sites for drugs.

Of 23 countries designated as major drug producers or transit sites, those
three were the only ones Mr Bush said had "failed demonstrably to make
substantial efforts" to curb trafficking.

The sanctions against Afghanistan and Haiti, including an end to most US
aid and a block on borrowing from multilateral organisations, were waived
in "vital national interests", Mr Bush said in a letter to Congress.

The waiver for Afghanistan is part of Washington's effort to reward and
support the interim government led by Hamid Karzai, which took power after
the Taliban were ousted in the US-led war on terrorism.

The Taliban had banned poppy cultivation but Washington had deemed the
measure ineffective and had in 2001, for the second year in a row, kept the
sanctions in place.

Mr Karzai's administration has also decreed a ban on poppy production.
Washington recognised it would take time to enforce, and Mr Bush pledged to
support Kabul in its anti-drug program.

"It is in the vital national interests of the United States to provide the
full range of US assistance to Afghanistan," he said in a "statement of
justification" for the waiver.

The Assistant Secretary of State for international narcotics and law
enforcement affairs, Rand Beers, said the US believed the moves Mr Karzai's
government had taken were "important first steps".

In the case of Haiti, Mr Bush said that while the Government had not done
enough in the anti-drug field, it was important for the Caribbean nation -
the poorest in the Western Hemisphere - to receive US assistance.

On Burma, the US accused Rangoon of doing extremely little to crack down on
the production of opium and methamphetamine.

Burma "has taken some useful counter-narcotics measures in the last year,
but these measures are far too limited in duration and scope to constitute
a substantial effort to meet the standards set forth under US law," Mr
Beers said.

Washington demanded that Rangoon move aggressively against drug producers
and traffickers - particularly the United Wa State Army - and turn over the
former narcotics warlord Khun Sa to the US.

Major drug-producing countries found to be in compliance with US law were:
the Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
Guatemala, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama,
Paraguay, Peru, Thailand, Venezuela and Vietnam.

Despite more than $US1 billion ($1.9 billion) in aid to Colombia and its
neighbours over the past two years, the US says it is yet to see any effect
on the availability and price of cocaine on the streets of American cities.

Colombia is by far the largest producer of cocaine in the world and
supplies more than 80 per cent of the drug sold in the US, the largest
market for cocaine.