SETBACK IN FIGHT AGAINST AFGHAN HEROIN TRADE

US and Afghan officials appear to be losing a race against time to destroy
this year's expected bumper crop of opium poppies in Afghanistan.

Faced with continued Taliban resistance in southern Afghanistan, US
officials concede it is becoming increasingly hard to prevent the return of
substantial opium production before the poppy harvest begins in late March.
They are also urging European countries to take more responsibility in
tackling the drugs trade in Afghanistan. A Taliban ban on poppy crops led
to a dramatic decline in opium production last year but that fall has come
to an abrupt end with the collapse of the fundamentalist regime. While the
new Afghan government in Kabul is committed to ending the drugs trade, the
international donors supporting the country's reconstruction have yet to
settle on specific policies to tackle this year's crop.

"I don't want to say we can't do something this year at this point in time
but it's also true that given the current environment there, it will be a
tougher task, no question about it," said a senior State department
official. "But we should not stop trying because if the cultivation
returns, it will be harder to go after in future years." US officials say
the range of policy options under consideration includes buying back this
year's poppy crop, providing alternative employment for farmers at harvest
time, and eradicating production with effective law enforcement. But in a
clear sign that the heroin trade has resumed in Afghanistan, Pakistani
police recently seized more than 1,300 pounds of heroin and 550 pounds of
morphine in Baluchistan province. United Nations officials told the
Associated Press that the seizure was the first large quantity of heroin
intercepted from Afghanistan.

As they attempt to draw up plans to intercept this year's harvest, US
officials believe European countries should play a bigger role.

"The drug of choice in the US is cocaine.

The drug of choice in western Europe is heroin," said a State department
official. "While the US is not going to walk away from this problem, it
seems to me that Europe has much more self-interest in dealing with the
drugs crop in Afghanistan."

The Drug Enforcement Administration is working with the Pentagon to
identify existing stockpiles of opium inside Afghanistan. Extensive
stockpiles ensured the drug trade prospered in spite of the Taliban's ban
on new production last year. However, US forces have only recently begun to
flush out pro-Taliban fighters in the Helmand province of southern
Afghanistan, which represents the world's most productive region for opium
poppy farming.

The new government in Kabul has already suggested it can only tackle poppy
production with substantial international aid. Hamid Karzai, the new Afghan
leader, told NBC television earlier this week: "We are very determined to
stop this by whatever means.

But we must also try to return to the Afghan people what is theirs.

That's a good life, a good agricultural base and an economic opportunity.
Without that kind of medium, it will be hard to stop the production of
poppy or to prevent smuggling or the trafficking of narcotics."