Bush Presses Karzai On Afghan Drug Trade

A narcotics officer tests pesticides on an Afghan poppy crop (file photo) (ITAR-TASS) November 26, 2006 -- U.S. President George W. Bush has asked Afghan President Hamid Karzai to demand more action against Afghanistan's drug trade.

Karzai's office said today that Bush telephoned Karzai on November 25, ahead of the NATO summit in Latvia next week.

At the summit, Bush is expected to press European NATO allies for more support for Afghanistan's battle against the resurgent Taliban.

Afghanistan's poppy crop yields about 90 percent of the world's opium, which is used to make heroin. Production jumped by nearly 50 percent this year.

(AFP)