Afghan anti-drugs minister resigns

KABUL, July 8 (Reuters) Afghanistan's counter-narcotics minister has resigned, a ministry spokesman said today, as the country brings in what is expected to be another record harvest of opium, a crop which is funding Taliban insurgents.

Habibullah Qaderi had been suffering health problems.

''He has been sick for the last five months, suffering from a sore throat and hyper-tension,'' said Counter-Narcotics Ministry spokesman Zalmay Afzali. ''He could not cope with the burden of ministerial duties and daily meetings.'' He has now been posted to Canada as consul general.

Since Qaderi became counter-narcotics minister in 2004, Afghanistan's opium crop has mushroomed and the country now produces some 90 per cent of the world's heroin.

While government efforts to eradicate opium production have been partially successful in the more peaceful north of the country, a revived Taliban insurgency in the south has hampered efforts to enforce the ban on production and promote other crops.

Opium production in Afghanistan rose by as much as 50 per cent last year, according to a United Nations estimate. This year's crop, recently harvested, could easily equal that, the United Nations says.

The Afghan and Western governments accuse Taliban insurgents of offering protection to opium farmers in return for taxing their crop and then using the funds to fend off Afghan and foreign troops.

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