Military

DATE=03/05/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=AFGHANISTAN/STRAW (L-O)

NUMBER=2-313840

BYLINE=MICHAEL KITCHEN

DATELINE=ISLAMABAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says Afghanistan is making a strong effort to combat drug production, amid reports of a massive surge in opium cultivation. V-O-A's Michael Kitchen reports from neighboring Pakistan on Mr. Straw's visit to the Afghan capital.

TEXT: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says the work done by the Afghan government and the international community in creating a safe and prosperous Afghanistan is crucial to rolling back drug production.

/// STRAW ACT ///

The general work on security and on raising living standards will, of themselves, help to diminish the reliance of the Afghan economy and some Afghan people, poor people, on drugs.

/// END ACT ///

Cultivation of opium poppies was sharply curtailed during the reign of the hard-line Islamist Taleban rulers.

But opium production jumped dramatically after the Taleban were ousted in 2001. Recent U-N and U-S reports have named Afghanistan as the world's top opium-growing nation.

Mr. Straw rejected comparisons between opium harvests before and after the fall of the Taleban, saying drug control is much more difficult, now that Afghanistan has become a democracy.

/// 2nd STRAW ACT ///

It's bound to be more difficult than controlling drugs in a fascist state, where if you break any laws that the police don't like, you kill people.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Straw says Afghanistan has become a better place to live since the end of the Taleban. He says human rights have improved, and people are better off economically. (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/MK/MH/TW/FC