The war on the Taliban in Afghanistan hasnt been good for the war on drugs, with the country more dependent than ever on illicit opium exports.

The increasing flow of opium out of Afghanistan and into Asia and Europe to feed the global heroin trade is the focus of a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime international conference underway in Moscow.

According to UNODC, as many as half a million people are believed to be involved in the trade in Afghan opiates, turning over an estimated US$40 billion per year.

Opium income is now equivalent to more than 50 per cent of Afghanistans gross domestic product. In 2005 4100 tons of opium was produced in Afghanistan. The year before it was 4200 tons.

UN figures show that since US-led coalition forces toppled the Taliban in 2001, the opium output has been steadily climbing. Almost 90 per cent of heroin reaching Europe now comes from Afghanistan.

In 2000, there were an estimated 82,000 hectares of opium poppies under cultivation, according to UNODC figures. This fell dramatically to just 8,000 hectares in 2001, during the height of the fighting. In 2002 it was back to 74,000 hectares, in 2003 it was 80,000 hectares and by 2004 it had grown to 131,000 hectares. In 2005 this was cut back to 104,000 hectares of poppies, but because of good growing conditions the amount of opium produced was virtually unchanged.

Coinciding with the Moscow summit came a warning from Natos top commander in Afghanistan, Lieutenant-General David Richards, that coalition troops in the south of the country faced a potential hornets nest of opposition unless the poppy-growing farmers behind the opium trade are given adequate alternative livelihoods.

Lt-Gen Richards, who commands the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Kabul, told The Times that about 35 per cent of the violence that has erupted in the south since British, Canadian and Dutch troops began patrolling had come from the narco warriors (the drugs barons).

The poppy farmers will fight hard to protect their only means of livelihood, and without roads and irrigation systems (to help them grow different products), you can hardly blame them, Lt-Gen Richards said.

NATO is one of 20 international organisations and 50 countries at this weeks Moscow summit.

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