U.S. keying in on Afghan drug trade

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- A broad Bush administration revision in its war strategy in Afghanistan is keying in on the country's burgeoning drug trafficking trade, U.S. officials say.

The possible new emphasis in the war comes as U.S. forces face increased violence in Afghanistan and reflects on a growing consensus that a Taliban resurgence must have its multimillion-dollar drug business, USA Today said Friday.

More than 90 percent of the world's opium poppy crop came from Afghanistan last year, a U.N. report says. A Pentagon estimate puts the Taliban take from drug trafficking at $60 million to $80 million a year.

"I don't think we appreciated how fast the Taliban was coming back when it got drug money," Dell Dailey, the U.S. State Department's counter-terrorism coordinator, told USA Today.

There are no plans to eradicate the poppy crop, a large portion of the Afghan economy.

One step already has been taken, officials say. At the urging of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, NATO has authorized a counter-narcotics role this month for its forces in Afghanistan.