Opium production "staggering"

KABUL, Afghanistan — Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan increased 59 percent this year, producing a record-breaking 6,100 tons of opium, in part because of efforts by the Taliban and other insurgents in the troubled south, according to a U.N. survey.

Antonio Maria Costa, the United Nations' anti-drugs chief, called the crop "staggering." Afghanistan now produces 92 percent of the world's opium supply.

If security in the south does not improve, entire provinces could fail. The southern part of the country is "displaying the ominous hallmarks of incipient collapse," Costa said. "The news is very bad."

It is difficult to overstate the problem here with poppies, the raw product for opium and heroin. Opium is the biggest employer in Afghanistan and the largest export. The drug trade makes up at least 35 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

Police chiefs, governors and other government officials profit from the trade, Costa said. So do the Taliban and other insurgents, who urged farmers to grow poppies in southern Afghanistan this past year to destabilize the government and make money.

Insurgents, whether al-Qaida or the Taliban, also protect drug traffickers, even riding along with convoys in the south and west, Costa said. In exchange, they demand money.

"The insurgency derives a significant amount of revenue from drugs," Costa said.

Afghanistan also had record opium yields. Production increased 49 percent from the year before. The estimated 6,100 tons even broke the world record of 1999, when 5,764 tons of opium were produced globally.

The numbers shocked even the Western officials who have worked for years to tackle the drug problem. "This country could be taken down by this whole drugs problem," said Doug Wankel, the U.S. drug czar in Afghanistan.

President Hamid Karzai said he was disappointed by the increase in poppies. "Regrettably, over the last year, our efforts to fight narcotics have proved inadequate," Karzai said.

The growth in poppies is directly linked to corruption and insecurity, officials said. It shows just how dire the situation has become in Afghanistan, almost five years after the Taliban fell. A renewed insurgency is mounting its most serious challenge to the U.S.-backed government.

Although the Taliban regime once successfully banned poppies, it is now encouraging cultivation. Farmers are growing poppies despite hundreds of millions of dollars in international aid spent on prevention, eradication and alternative-livelihood programs.

Not all the news is negative. Six of 34 provinces are now opium-free. Cultivation fell in eight provinces, most in the north. Three of the most corrupt governors in the south were replaced after the last poppy growing season.

Punishment for drug crimes, though, has been minimal. The Afghan government has been reluctant to jail poppy farmers. It also has had little luck going after traffickers: Only two major traffickers have faced prosecution, both in the United States.

British patrol plane

crashes, killing 14

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A British patrol plane crashed Saturday, killing 14 servicemen in the worst loss of life for the NATO-led security force since it took on the mission of taming insurgents in Afghanistan's volatile south a month ago.

British Defense Secretary Des Browne said the loss appeared to be "a terrible accident." The alliance said the plane's crew had reported a technical problem.

The British Defense Ministry said the crashed plane was a Nimrod MR2, a long-range aircraft that can carry up to 25 people and a crew of 13 for reconnaissance and communications missions. The dead included 12 Royal Air Force personnel, a Royal Marine and an army soldier.