DELAY COULD DEFEAT OPIUM BAN, U.N. WARNS

VIENNA -- (AFP) -- A United Nations drugs watchdog welcomed a decision by
Afghanistan's interim administration to ban the cultivation of opium
poppies, but warned Thursday that the move must be made rapidly to be
effective.

"The ban on opium poppy cultivation announced this week in Afghanistan
represents a very important step in international drug control efforts,"
said the Vienna-based Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention.

Interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai announced Wednesday his ban on the
production, processing and illicit use, smuggling and trafficking of drugs
such as opium and its ingredients, the agency said.

U.N. officials said the cultivation of opium poppies has resumed since
October in the southern provinces of Uruzgan, Helmand, Nangarhar and
Kandahar, following a breakdown of order amid the U.S.-led attacks which
drove out the Taliban.

Karzai issued orders to all provinces this week to put a halt to the
cultivation of opium poppies, one of Afghanistan's main cash crops,
according to Afghan television.

But the U.N. warned: "There are only two or three months to make this ban
meaningful and effective for this year."

"For the ban to be effective and to ensure that the spring 2002 opium poppy
harvest does not reach global drug markets, there is a need for a two-track
approach" by policing production and helping farmers to develop alternative
crops, it said.

In recent years, Afghanistan has been the main source of illicit opium; 70
percent of opium production in 2000 and up to 90 percent of heroin in
European drug markets is understood to have originated in Afghanistan.

For much of their rule, the Taliban militia encouraged poppy cultivation.

But in July 2000, Taliban leader Mohammad Omar decreed a ban on poppy
cultivation in an effort to win international diplomatic recognition.