Afghan reliance on opium is decreasing-US

BERLIN, Jan 30 (Reuters) Afghanistan may be the world's number one producer of opium poppy, the key ingredient for heroin, but the importance it plays in the Afghan economy is shrinking, a senior US official said today.

The United Nations estimated late last year that opium production had risen by as much as 50 per cent in 2006 to supply over 90 per cent of the world's heroin.

''About a third of the economy was based on opium last year ... but it's going down,'' US Assistant Secretary of State for south and central Asian affairs Richard Boucher told reporters.

He gave no details about the speed of the decline.

He said such a trend proved there was more economic growth outside the business of opium poppy cultivation. However, he said more efforts were needed to develop economic alternatives to the opium poppy in Afghanistan.

Boucher and other US government and military officials are in Berlin to meet allies about Afghan reconstruction.

Afghanistan's Western allies say the drugs industry is a major factor fuelling a revival of the Taliban-led insurgency that made 2006 the bloodiest year since the hardline Islamist group was forced from power by US-led forces in 2001.

General Karl Eikenberry, commander of the Combined Forces Command in Afghanistan, acknowledged that 2006 was the most violent year yet but was optimistic about prospects for 2007.

''It's clear that the extremists, the Taliban ... look at time as working against them,'' he said. However, he added a warning: ''There will be more violence.'' More than 4,000 people, including about 170 foreign soldiers, died in fighting in Afghanistan last year, a year that saw a dramatic jump in suicide bombings as the Taliban and other militants copy tactics from insurgents in Iraq.

Afghan officials have complained that not enough money and resources are being spent on reconstruction and development.

Allied officials complain insurgency is hindering projects.

Washington last week announced 10.6 billion dollar in new spending in Afghanistan for security and reconstruction and extended tours of duty which effectively increases its troop deployment by 2,500.

SPRING OFFENSIVE Eikenberry said the US military and its allies were preparing themselves for pre-emptive spring strikes against the Taliban, who he said traditionally launched their offensives in the spring once weather conditions were acceptable.

He added that NATO was in discussion with Germany about the use of half a dozen Tornado reconnaissance jets to be used to gather intelligence in the less stable parts of Afghanistan.

The German government is expected to decide next week on whether to send the Tornados to Afghanistan. The decision to consider sending Tornados came after Chancellor Angela Merkel's government resisted pressure to redeploy combat troops from the relatively stable north to the more dangerous south.

US ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald E Neumann denied that Afghan President Hamid Karzai had offered peace talks with a resurgent Taliban during comments he made in Kabul yesterday.

Karzai's comments were misconstrued, Neumann said, adding that the Afghan leader was only referring to the reconciliation programme aimed at rehabilitating willing Taliban fighters.

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