29/2/08
The US has warned that opium production in Afghanistan reaching record levels, undermining efforts to legitimise the economy and supplying the Taliban with funds for weapons. The US state department release its report on the issue as Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato’s secretary-general, met George Bush in Washington to discuss Afghanistan. “Narcotics production in Afghanistan hit historic highs in 2007 for the second straight year,” said the report, released on Friday.”[The country's] drug trade is undercutting efforts to establish a stable democracy with a licit economic free market in the country.”
See: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D061B5FB-0449-4DE2-8C89-8722624E0A3E.htm
