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Report to show Afghan opium rise Afghan opium 'at record levels'
(about 4 hours later)
The amount of opium produced in Afghanistan has broken records again, official figures are due to reveal. The UN says opium production in Afghanistan has soared to record levels, with an increase on last year of more than a third.
Helmand province, where UK troops are based, is expected to be named as the world's largest drug-producing area, surpassing entire countries. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime report says the amount of opium produced there has doubled in the last two years.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is publishing its annual opium survey later on Monday (1500GMT). It says Helmand province is now the biggest single drug-producing area in the world, surpassing whole countries such as Colombia.
It is expected to reveal a huge increase in the poppy crop which provides the raw material for heroin. Afghanistan now accounts for more than 93% of the world's opiates.
Millions of pounds of aid money has been allocated for anti-drugs efforts in the war-torn country. The opium production in Afghanistan has now broken all records.
Drugs failure Despite billions of dollars of aid and tens of thousands of international troops, the amount has doubled in the last two years.
However the UN report paints a dismal picture of the efforts led by the British government to tackle the problem. The report says the 193,000 hectares of opium poppies grown in Afghanistan are now responsible for almost all the world's opiates.
This year we must change the strategy, how to fight, how to work in Helmand Gen Khodaidad, Afghan anti-drugs minister class="" href="/1/hi/world/south_asia/6957238.stm"> Inside Afghan opium market 'Insurgency link'
Helmand province, where UK forces are battling the Taleban, is thought to have increased production by between a third and a half on last year. "The results are very bad, terrifyingly bad, because cultivation has increased by 17% to an historic level," said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the Office on Drugs and Crime.
Gen Khodaidad, Afghanistan's acting minister of counter narcotics, said: "Unfortunately we have failed, in security we have failed and in drug issue we have failed, we have not done a good job in Helmand. "No other country beside China in the 19th Century every had such a large amount of land dedicated to illegal activities.
"This year we must change the strategy, how to fight, how to work in Helmand to improve the security and tackle the poppy in Helmand province." "The province of Helmand in the south has cultivated more opium than in the rest of Afghanistan. It has become the largest single entity in terms of both production and cultivation," he said.
Some provinces in the north are thought to have seen a drop in poppy harvests but the overall statistics will most likely show an increase across the country. Despite the overall increase, twice as many provinces are now drug-free in northern and central Afghanistan and the report says growing opium poppies is now closely linked to the insurgency and the instability in the south.
The fighting and insecurity in southern Afghanistan is blamed for the increase, along with a failing justice system unable to prosecute drug barons and corrupt government officials. And what is to be done? The report recommends more determined efforts to bring that security.
The lack of incentives for farmers to grow anything else has also been identified as a factor. It urges the government to get tough on corruption, which it says is driving the drugs trade and it lists poor governance, a weak judiciary and failing eradication programmes for these new frightening record levels.