On Afghan border: 'Drugs out, guns in'

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- The U.S.-led coalition appears to have ceded much of Afghanistan's southern border to the Taliban until new forces arrive, The New York Times reports.

U.S. commanders told the newspaper that five of the six major Taliban routes into and out of the country are in the south.

"Drugs out, guns in," one officer said.

The Taliban was created and grew in southern Afghanistan, and Mullah Omar, the group's leader, comes from the area. The region also produces 90 percent of the global opium supply, with the Taliban reaping the profits.

President Barack Obama has promised that at least 20,000 more U.S. soldiers will be sent to southern Afghanistan. The region now has 20,000 soldiers from the United States, Britain, Canada and the Netherlands, along with 20,000 Afghan security officers.

The new forces would bring the ratio of soldiers to population to the 1 in 50 level recommended by the U.S. counterinsurgency field manual. But that may not be adequate in a region where many people live in small villages, the Times said.