Afghanistan seeks neighbours' help in anti-drug fight

KABUL, June 13 (Reuters) Afghanistan today urged its neighbours to cooperate in the battle against drugs trade, which officials say is funding the escalating insurgency in the war-ravaged nation.

Afghanistan is the world's main producer of opium and its refined form, heroin.

Speaking at a conference of drug officials of regional countries, Afghan Minister for Counter Narcotics Habibullah Qaderi urged them to focus more on ''drug smugglers, drug producers and their backers'' instead of poor farmers who grow opium to eke out a living.

''If you want a secure region, we need to work together and eliminate the scourge of drug from the region,'' he said.

''It requires joint efforts of the affected nations particularly the neighbours in the region to share resources and expertise.'' Qaderi didn't name the countries, but Afghanistan's drug trafficking route to Europe is believed to run through Iran and Central Asian states.

Qaderi's comments came a day after US ambassador to Kabul Ronald E Neumann said drug barons were fuelling the insurgency to undermine anti-drug efforts of President Hamid Karzai's government.

More than 900 people have been killed in Afghan violence this year, about 400 of them in May, according to US and government figures.

Afghanistan's opium output last year was about 4,500 tonnes and the United Nations has said the country risks becoming a ''narco-state'' unless action is taken to suppress production and the trafficking gangs.

UN officials say drug trade had made deep inroads into Afghan society linking government officials, lawmakers and police.

REUTERS SHB RK1803