program for Afghanistan, where intelligence officials see growing links between drugs and the Taliban, the officials said.
"Afghanistan is providing close to 95 percent of the world's heroin," the State Department's top counternarcotics official, Tom Schweich, said at a recent conference.
"That makes it almost a sole-source supplier" and presents a situation "unique in world history."Pure Genius
Another Record Poppy Crop in Afghanistan
By MATTHEW LEE
The Associated Press
Saturday, August 4, 2007; 12:27 PM
WASHINGTON -- Afghanistan will produce another record poppy harvest this year that cements its status as the world's near-sole supplier of the heroin source, yet a furious debate over how to reverse the trend is stalling proposals to cut the crop, U.S. officials say.
As President Bush prepares for weekend talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, divisions within the U.S. administration and among NATO allies have delayed release of a $475 million counternarcotics program for Afghanistan, where intelligence officials see growing links between drugs and the Taliban, the officials said.
snip
Counternarcotics agents at the State Department had wanted to release a 123-page summary of the strategy last month and then again last week, but were forced to hold off because of concerns it may not be feasible, the officials said.
snip
Although the existing aid, supplemented mainly by Britain and Canada and supported by the NATO force in Afghanistan, has achieved some results _ notably an expected rise in the number of "poppy-free" provinces from six to at least 12 and possibly 16, mainly in the north _ production elsewhere has soared, they said.(***Notice the last line which says the results are an "EXPECTED" (not actual) rise in the number of "poppy-free" provinces)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/04/AR2007080400671.html