By Michael Drudge

Britain says a surge in opium production is one of the key challenges to the stability of Afghanistan. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has highlighted the issue in a speech in London.

Experts say there has been a major increase in opium production in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taleban regime there in 2001.

The Central Intelligence Agency estimates poppy cultivation in Afghanistan this year will probably surpass the record 90,000 hectares that were harvested in 1999, when the Taleban were in power.

Against that backdrop, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw laid out some of the major challenges of curbing Afghanistan's production of the opium poppy, the raw ingredient of heroin.

"Opium is leaving Afghanistan's economy, and with it Afghanistan's poorest people, increasingly in hock to exploitative and wealthy traders and warlords," said Jack Straw. "It thrives on chaos and lawlessness, and those who profit from it have every interest in undermining the rule of law and the authority of government. Opium is the greatest threat to the modern and successful state and better future, which the Afghan government  and people are striving to build."

Mr. Straw said Afghanistan's drug trade also affects its neighbors, with both Iran and Pakistan experiencing a sharp rise in heroin addiction.

"Afghanistan's opium poisons the whole region," he said. "One of the main trafficking routes to Europe, for example, passes through next-door Iran. And there are an estimated one in 35 adults addicted to drugs, and drug traffickers have killed some 3,000 law enforcement and army officers over the last 10 years."

Mr. Straw said British-led efforts to curb Afghanistan's drug trade have been hampered by a weak government in Kabul and the decision of farmers to plant more poppies. He said an ironic side-effect of post-war reconstruction is that better roads and irrigation have made it easier to grow and transport opium poppies.

The foreign secretary outlined a five-point counter-narcotics plan that includes eradication of opium, provision of alternative livelihoods for farmers, improved law enforcement and criminal justice, and a public awareness campaign about the dangers of addiction.

A paper issued by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, which hosted the Straw address, says a typical Afghan farmer can earn nearly $4,000 a year planting poppies, 10 times more than a wheat or cotton farmer can make.

Michael Drudge, VOA news, London.
注释：
surge 猛增
opium 鸦片
highlight 强调
topple 颠覆
poppy （植）罂粟
hectare 公顷
ingredient 成分
heroin 海洛因
in hock 负债
exploitative 剥削的
undermine 破坏
addiction 上瘾
reconstruction 重建
narcotic 致幻毒品
eradication 根除