BRITAIN AND US PLAN TO STOP HEROIN TRADE BY BUYING AFGHAN OPIUM CROP

BRITAIN and America are to devote tens of millions of pounds to an attempt
to end Afghanistan's notorious heroin trade.

One option being considered is to buy this year's entire opium harvest at
black market prices - on the condition that farmers then plough up their
poppy fields and sow a different crop.

The move to tackle the menace of heroin came as disturbing new evidence
emerged that warlords of the Northern Alliance are conniving in the renewed
planting of poppy fields under the cover of war.

United Nations drug monitors say the weakening Taliban grip over
drug-producing areas of Afghanistan has allowed farmers to exploit the last
weeks of the sowing season.

Kemal Kurspahic, a spokesman for the Vienna-based UN Office of Drug Control
and Crime Prevention (UNDCCP), said: "The sowing season is October and
early November. Many farmers are now free of Taliban control and our staff
in Pakistan have received reports that some are planting. We will only know
in February how many poppy fields there are when they begin to grow."

Although the United States and Britain had accused the Taliban of relaxing
its ban on poppy farming, the UN says farmers are acting out of desperation
and the absence of anyone to enforce the proscription of the trade. It also
believes that the bulk of the drug is being produced in alliance strongholds.

One, Badakhshan, was responsible for 83 per cent of the crop produced last
year, earning up to UKP 30 million for the producers. The total for this
year is expected to be still higher as farmers, lured by high prices, have
for the first time grown a second crop.

A return to the record levels of opium produced before the ban imposed by
the Taliban would be a major embarrassment to George W Bush and Tony Blair,
who have repeatedly cited the regime's involvement in the drugs trade as a
justification for military action.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, will next week announce British grants
to help Afghanistan's northern neighbours to tackle heroin smuggling from
Afghanistan.

The US and Britain, however, face a dilemma over what to do about thousands
of acres under cultivation mostly in areas controlled by the coalition's
Afghan allies.

Against the backdrop of a humanitarian crisis and delicate talks to
establish a "broad-based" administration, the destruction of poppy fields
by American or British troops is considered politically impossible.

The revival of a plan for Western governments to buy and then destroy
Afghan opium was first mooted by Keith Hellawell, Mr Blair's former
anti-drugs co-ordinator. "We are well aware of the dangers. Nothing is
being ruled out," said an official.

However, with farmers being paid up to UKP 215 a kilogram last year,
experts concede that eradication will be extremely difficult, even if the
new administration in Kabul co-operates - something of which the UN is far
from certain.

Hamid Ghodse, the head of the International Narcotics Control Board, called
for an "unreserved and unequivocal" commitment from the alliance to reduce
opium production in areas it controlled last week.

Mr Ghodse made his remarks after a meeting in Vienna of countries that fund
the UN's anti-narcotics programme. At the meeting, which included British
officials, it was agreed to prepare a "long term action plan for the
post-conflict period in Afghanistan to preclude the resumption of poppy
cultivation".

The UN drug control body, which carries out annual surveys of poppy
production in Afghanistan, believes that the price of opium in the
country's bazaars is beginning to rise again after a sharp drop following
the events of September 11, which suggests that traders are replenishing
stocks.

Mr Kurspahic said: "Immediately after September 11 the price fell from $700
[UKP 480] a kilo to $190 and then to $90. We believe that reflected the
desire to turn their assets into cash quickly. We have some sense now that
prices are beginning to go back up again."

The UNDCCP is calling for international donors to fund alternative
development projects to help to divert opium farmers to other crops.
Farmers are being offered cash and other incentives to switch to other
crops under the schemes.

Mr Blair indicated that Britain will contribute to the programme during a
Commons debate on Wednesday. He said: "What we shall do in helping with the
reconstruction of Afghanistan is to make it clear that we want Afghanistan
to develop farming of proper agricultural produce, not produce for the
drugs trade."

Production of raw opium fell by 94 per cent after it was outlawed by the
Taliban. According to the annual UN survey, just 185 tons were produced
this year, compared with 3,276 the year before.

UN drug monitors, however, carried out an additional mission to the
alliance province of Badakhshan in September because of increasing concerns
about an expansion in poppy growing in the area.