More opium likely in Afghan south
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The amount of opium poppy cultivated in Afghanistan's volatile southern provinces will increase in 2008, the UN says.
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The UN warns that Afghanistan could become a "narco-state" after opium cultivation rose two-thirds this year.
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BALKH, Afghanistan  - As Afghanistan struggles to cut its raging opium production, aid workers try to find alternative crops, but for some former poppy farmers the choice was easy -- they planted marijuana instead.
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Afghanistan's world-leading opium cultivation rose a "staggering" 60 percent this year, the U.N. anti-drugs chief announced Saturday in urging the government to crack down on big traffickers and remove corrupt officials and police.
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Afghanistan produced record levels of opium in 2007 for the second straight year, led by a staggering 45 percent increase in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand Province, according to a UN survey to be released tomorrow.
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Officials blame the increase in cultivation on the resurgence of Taliban rebels in the south, the countryÂs prime opium growing region.
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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, the world's biggest opium producer, is set for another bumper crop of opium poppies in 2008, providing a windfall for the Taliban, which taxes farmers to finance its fight against government and foreign forces, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said Wednesday. Production rose 34...
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KABUL - Afghanistan&#39;s opium production is approaching record levels. A new United Nations report says drug production has shot up more than 60 per cent in the past year.
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NATO forces inflicted a "tactical defeat" on the resurgent Taliban movement in southern Afghanistan in an offensive that ended last weekend, but a growing illegal narcotics trade that helps fund the insurgency is gaining ground, NATO's top military command said today.
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KABUL, Afghanistan - In the face of pressure from the American government, the administration of President Hamid Karzai is seeking the formation of an international scientific committee to review the safety of chemical herbicides to combat Afghanistan's opium poppy crop, Afghan and Western officials say.
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The international community is making significant strides toward ridding northern Afghanistan of opium, a U.S. counter-narcotics official said Friday, despite setbacks in the Taliban-controlled south and forecasts of another record year of poppy cultivation.
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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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Afghanistan could be "taken down" by its booming illegal drug trade, a senior U.S. anti-narcotics official warned Saturday, ahead of the scheduled release of U.N. opium crop data expected to show a massive increase in cultivation this year.
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With profits from this spring's record opium crop fueling a broad Taliban offensive, Afghan authorities say they are considering a once unthinkable way to deal with the scourge: spraying poppy fields with herbicide.
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Opium poppy cultivation shot up a whopping 61 percent in Afghanistan this year in a setback for US and NATO efforts to clamp down on the country's illegal drug industry, according to new figures released by the White House.
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A UN report -- noting while opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan was up 64 percent the past year, opium production had only increased 17 -- has still led one UN official