Drug Trade Flourishes in the New Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The opium trade is flourishing in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban and the U.S. government said on Friday it is unclear whether the new government can persuade local leaders to stop it.
In its annual report on the international drug trade, the State Department said the Taliban, driven out of power by the U.S. military last year, virtually eliminated opium poppy cultivation in the regions under their control.
Overall opium production fell dramatically, to about 74 tons in 2001 from about 3,656 tons in 2000 and almost all the production was in parts of Afghanistan held by the Northern Alliance, Washington's ally in the war against the Taliban.
Afghanistan has traditionally been one of the world's major producers of opiates, along with Myanmar, which regained its place as top producer last year because of the Taliban ban.
Opium is the raw material for the opiates heroin and morphine, and Afghanistan has been the major supplier of those drugs to the region and to Western Europe.
The U.S. report, released on Friday, said widespread cultivation of poppies resumed in Afghanistan after the collapse of the Taliban and drug traffickers remained active in Afghanistan and the region.