Like war on militants, fighting drug in the post-Taliban Afghanistan appears to be a daunting challenge for the government as the menace has been on constant rise over the past five years.

Afghanistan became the single largest supplier of the raw material for heroin in the world in 2003, with an output of 3,600 tones of opium poppy.

It has been topping the drug producing nations for the third successive years with a harvest of 4,200 tones of the opium poppy in 2004 and 4,100 tones in 2005.

Moreover, experts believe that the drug harvest would hit record high in 2006 as more farmers devoted their lands to grow the easy profitable crop in the lawless countryside.

Government's failure to adopt a harsh policy against drug producers has encouraged locals to grow the menace further.

Survey conducted by some agencies, including the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC), indicates that farmers who grew poppy have become richer than those who didn't.

The price of one Seer or 7 kg wheat in the countryside is 70 Afghanis (about US$1.40) while 1 kg opium costs 3,000 Afghanis (US$60) at the farmer's doorstep.

A poppy grower at least has a Chinese portable Tiger generator and TV set to watch hundreds of television channels through satellite while his fellow farmer who does not grow the menace cannot feed his children.

"I have already renovated my house, bought a TV set and a dish antenna and have planed to buy a car this year," a farmer of northeast Badakhshan province Mohammad Yusuf told Xinhua.

Yusuf, who harvested 18 kg of opium this year, said he would buy an old-fashion Russian Jeep within months and drive it on the rugged terrain of Darahim district.

Despite spending hundreds of millions of US dollars annually to check the drug menace, the post-Taliban country provides 87 percent of the world's illicit drug.

"Despite a lot of achievements over the past four years, including holding presidential and parliamentary elections, we have not been successful in poppy eradication." Karzai told a national conference on counter-narcotics here on Tuesday.

Expressing his deep dissatisfaction over the poor achievement of his government in the war against drug, an angry Karzai stressed that he was unhappy to participate the counter-narcotics conference.

"We had such conference two years ago. We had such conference last year. We have no outcome to present to the world in this conference," the Afghan leader pointed out.

The black business obviously is taking place in the connivance of certain authorities as former Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali more than once accused the involvement of high ranking officials in producing and trafficking the contraband.

Even his successor, incumbent Interior Minister Zarar Ahmad Muqbal, did not hide the involvement of his subordinates including police in misusing power.

Addressing at a two-day seminar of provincial governors and police chiefs early in the week, Maqbal disclosed that some officials at Highway Police Force and Border Police Force were involved in corruption.

Media reports have also accused a number of provincial police chiefs and two former cabinet members of President Karzai of involvement in drug trafficking.

President Karzai, whose administration is facing increasing Taliban-led insurgency, has linked terrorism with drug Mafia, saying terrorism with foreign support and drug money has been attempting to destroy Afghanistan.

Poppy plantation mostly is on rise in the restive areas like the militancy-plagued southern Helmand province where Taliban-linked militias are active.

The production of the menace, according to officials at the Ministry for Counter Narcotics, has doubled than previous years as the law enforcing agencies could not easily reach the far-flanged areas in the volatile province.

Afghanistan's 30,000 armed forces and some 65,000 policemen, experts say, are not able to implant the law in the countryside properly.

The Afghan President, besides calling on the world to robustly back the Afghan government in its war on drug, urged all Afghans to get united and fight the menace collectively till its complete eradication.

"Poppy cultivation and producing illicit drug has tarnished the image of Afghanistan. If we do not eliminate poppy, poppy will eliminate us," an angry but confident Karzai warned his fellow Afghans.

(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2006)