http://www.afgha.com/?q=node/1491
Opium, heroin and marijuana production remain integral to Afghanistans economy. Some 2.9 million people are involved in growing opium, representing 12.6 percent of the total population. Revenue from this year's harvest is predicted to top US $3 billion, according to UNODC figures.
Strange that it continues to rise as the country now has incomes never seen during the Talibans who had a done a good thing fighting it, as the Opium cultivation was at its lowest during their last years of rule.This is a long-term problem which fuels corruption, finances insurgency and undermines law and order. Solving it cannot be done by military means alone, but dealing with it is essential, Mark Laity, a spokesman of NATO, told IRIN in Kabul.