Special Report: Aftermath of Terror

AFGHANISTAN BANS NARCOTICS IN FACE OF REVIVED PRODUCTION

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The new Afghan government has banned the
production and distribution of narcotics, fearing a resurgence in
poppy cultivation in the nation's current, lawless atmosphere.

A decree signed by Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's interim leader,
forbids cultivating, producing and trafficking in drugs such as
opium. The move comes as evidence mounts that economic hardship and a
breakdown in law and order are driving farmers in eastern and
southern Afghanistan to plant poppy -- seen by many in Afghanistan as
a highly lucrative cash crop -- in areas previously thought
opium-free.

Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban regime ousted late last year by
the U.S. in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, banned
poppy cultivation on religious grounds in July 2000. The ban
triggered a dramatic decline in the output of opium, from 3,267 tons
in 2000 to 185 tons last year. But the regime made no move to destroy
opium-processing laboratories or existing stockpiles of drugs, which
continued to be smuggled out of the country.

"Drugs were giving them huge profits," said Bernard Frahi, the United
Nations' senior drug control official for Afghanistan.

International law enforcement agencies have long considered
Afghanistan one of the biggest sources of raw opium in the world.
Now, officials fear the progress made eradicating poppy fields in the
past year may have been jeopardized.

Observers say that despite Wednesday's decree, Mr. Karzai will be
hard-pressed to tackle the problem. Barely a month in power, he
hasn't yet been able to establish control over a country still
plagued by banditry and dominated by rival warlords, who often earn
fortunes from drug production and smuggling.