Afghan policemen destroy an opium poppy field in Noorgal, Kunar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan. Opium poppy cultivation has been increasing for a third year in a row and is heading for a record high, the U.N. said in a report released Monday. Poppy cultivation is also dramatically increasing in areas of the southern Taliban heartland, the report showed, especially in regions where thousands of coalition troops have been withdrawn or are in the process of departing. The report indicates that whatever international efforts have been made to wean local farmers off the crop have failed. |
