WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- Afghanistan had the highest-ever cultivation of opium poppy in 2003 despite the government's effort to curb narcotics, a U.S. government agency reported Monday.
The State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, however, reported a major success in Colombia, predicting a breakthrough in the war against cocaine.
The annual report assesses the situation in some 200 countries that get U.S. financial and technical assistance to fight illicit drugs. The overall picture was positive, with the bureau reporting a general decline in drug production across the world.
The 1,000-page report also showed success in the efforts to fight drug trafficking and money laundering, particularly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that forced the United States and its allies to make new, strict laws to curb these activities.
The U.S. administration has long known that groups like the Taliban and al-Qaida used drug money to finance attacks and has stepped up its efforts to fight the problem.
But the 2003 report, released at the State Department by Assistant Secretary Robert B. Charles, presented a dismal picture of the situation in Afghanistan where thousands of U.S. troops are helping the Afghan government maintain law and order.
"In Afghanistan, ... poppy cultivation this year approached the highest levels ever registered. ... International and U.S. surveys indicate that in 2003 Afghanistan again produced three-quarters of the world's illicit opium," the report said.
"The narcotics situation remains serious, despite positive actions by both the government and international donors," the report added.
"Dangerous security conditions make implementing counter-narcotics programs difficult and present a substantial obstacle to both poppy eradication efforts by the central government and to international efforts to provide related assistance."
Charles told reporters at the State Department that President Hamid Karzai's commitment to curbing poppy production was "rock-solid," but criminal financiers and narcotics traffickers had taken advantage of the country's fragile security situation.
"To a lesser extent, the country remains a significant location for the production and transit of all forms of unrefined (opium), refined (heroin) and semi-refined (morphine base) opiate products," the report said.
"The drug economy in Afghanistan is deeply embedded, the product of more than a century of Afghan history. At present, criminal financiers and narcotics traffickers in and outside of Afghanistan have taken advantage of the on-going conflict and fragile security situation and have exploited poor farmers in a rural economy decimated by years of war and drought," it said.
Charles, however, said that the world's largest cocaine producer, Colombia, had reached a turning point in the war against narcotics. The eradication program, launched four years ago with U.S. assistance, has led to large-scale destruction of coca plants. In 2003, U.S.-supported Colombian government agencies uprooted 132,817 acres of coca plants, causing an 8 percent increase in eradication and a significant fall in cocaine production.
During the last four years, the United States has spent $2.5 billion on fighting the drug trade in Colombia.
"Colombia still has along way to go" to win the war against narcotics, the report warned. "Despite dramatic progress (made last year), Colombia remains a major producing country," the report observed.
For Burma, the study showed a steady decline in opium poppy production in 2003 for a seventh-straight year. But the country still remains the world's No. 2 producer, behind Afghanistan. It is also the primary source of amphetamine-type stimulants in Asia, producing hundreds of millions of tablets annually.
According to the joint U.S./Burma opium yield survey, opium production in Burma totaled no more than 484 metric tons in 2003, down more than 23 percent from a year earlier, and a fraction of the 2,560 metric tons produced in Burma in 1996.
The report pointed out Haiti as another trouble spot, where geographical position, weak institutions and subsistence economy have made it a key conduit for drug traffickers transporting cocaine from South America to the United States and, to a lesser degree, Canada and Europe. The Haitian National Police, according to the report, lacks discipline and is riddled with corruption. The judicial system is equally weak, its prosecutors and judges are susceptible to bribes and intimidation, the report said.
"Haiti remains highly susceptible to money laundering due to its weak legal system and pervasive corruption. The money laundering law passed in 2002 has not been implemented," the study said.
The report praised Mexico for recognizing "the serious threat that drug trafficking poses to national security and public safety." Mexican authorities, the report said, sustained an intensive counter-narcotics effort throughout 2003, including the capture of major drug cartel figures and the seizure of large quantities of illicit drugs.
Authorities conducted robust eradication of cannabis and opium poppy crops, sustaining the net reductions achieved over the past several years. Despite crop eradication, Mexico continued to produce about one-third of the heroin consumed in the United States and exported about 5,000 metric tons of marijuana to the United States.
The report also noted that the United States and Mexico achieved unprecedented levels of cooperation in fighting drug trafficking and other transnational crimes in 2003, holding successful bilateral investigations and increased intelligence sharing. Mexico extradited a record 31 fugitives to the United States in 2003.
