Opium trade undermines Afghan democracy, U.S. says
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The United States estimated on Thursday that Afghanistan's opium production hit a record high last year and said the narcotics trade is undermining democracy and security in the Southwest Asian U.S. ally.
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The US president says he is concerned at Afghanistan's escalating opium industry in his annual report on major drug producers.
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Criticism by Afghanistan could undermine domestic support for Britain's military and development efforts in the violence-scarred country, an influential body of MPs said Thursday.
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The lives of British soldiers in Afghanistan are being put at risk because failure to develop a coherent strategy for eradicating the country's opium poppies has led to the Taliban forming an alliance with heroin traders, a highly critical parliamentary report warns today.
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Afghanistan&#39;s first democratic election next month will be held in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation, according to a report which blames America for continuing to pay warlords to hunt the Taleban.
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Afghanistan&#39;s first directly elected president, Hamid Karzai, has warned that the country must face down radical extremists and defeat the drug trade.
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The Bush administration expressed disapproval Wednesday over the military coup in Thailand and called for a swift restoration of democracy.
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Country produces 87% of global opium. One in ten Afghans works in opium trade. UN: state is world&#39;s second worst to live in. By Nick Meo in Jalalabad and Leonard Doyle.
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KABUL , Afghanistan -- Afghanistan's criminal underworld has compromised key government officials who protect drug traffickers, allowing a flourishing opium trade that will not be stamped out for a generation, a UN report released yesterday said.
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An increase in Afghanistan's opium poppy crop and the illicit drugs trade is endangering rebuilding efforts the US says.
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AFGHANISTAN is in danger of becoming a &quot;narco-state&quot; because soaring opium cultivation now accounts for 60 per cent of the economy, the United Nations warned yesterday.
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WASHINGTON -- Fledgling US-backed democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq are failing to protect human rights, despite huge flows of American aid to improve conditions after the ousters of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, the State Department said yesterday,
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Conditions in Afghanistan have deteriorated markedly since 2005, with rising violence, government corruption and misguided U.S. efforts contributing to growing unease  among the population, according to a report released yesterday based in part on 1,000 interviews with ordinary Afghans.
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Efforts to slash opium production in Asia are having mixed results, with cultivation up massively in Afghanistan but almost wiped out in the Golden Triangle region, a United Nations report said.
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Afghanistan's opium trade has revived and  is thriving under the country's U.S.-backed leaders and experts  say that is not likely to change any time soon no matter who  wins next month's first direct presidential election.
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Responding to a U.N. report warning it  risks becoming a narco-state after opium cultivation jumped to  record levels, Afghanistan said Friday the war on drugs was the  top priority but opposed aerial spraying of opium fields.
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A U.S. report warns that an increase in poppy cultivation will expand the influence of drug lords on Afghanistan's government.