The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in its latest report says there is 18 percent increase in the poppy cultivation due to high prices. Jean-Luc Lemahieu, head of the UNODC in Afghanistan said on Tuesday "an increase of 18 percent is a serious alarm signal.

It is a wakeup call. This country, working toward its transition, can ill afford this". He also added that the international allies in Afghanistan are not doing enough to fight poppy cultivation. Farmers planted 154,000 hectares of opium poppy in 2011, up from the 131,000 in 2011.

The UN report says Afghan efforts to stamp out opium poppy cultivation are failing. More help is needed to provide alternatives to farmers, in law enforcement support and in cooperation from other countries in the region. Most cultivation has been in southern and western provinces, centers of organized crime and lax security. The government destroyed more than twice as much of the opium crop than the year before, eradicating 9,600 hectares.

The US and its NATO allies caught up in the rush to an exit strategy, largely ignoring the poppy eradication campaigns, and our Government with some bigwigs of the power corridor involved in drug profits have always been opposing effective and harsh programs of eradication such as aerial spray on poppy fields.

The Government and international forces should enforce the poppy eradication campaign. The war on poppy is forgotten. Aside from the fact that a huge part of the financial support to insurgents comes from transport and smuggling of opium, it's also exporting deaths to millions of people around the world, and the number of drug addicts increasing in Afghanistan. Taliban militants get $400 million a year through direct and indirect revenue from poppy cultivation, transportation and trade.

The Government and international forces should enforce the poppy eradication campaign. Aside from the fact that a huge part of the financial support to insurgents come from transport and smuggling of opium, it's also exporting deaths to millions of people around the world, and the number of drug addicts increasing in Afghanistan.

The Counter-Narcotics law is yet to go in effect. It was approved in 2009, but under the pretext of the so-called alternative programs, the Government has not implemented the law. Once this law goes into effect, there will be legal action against farmers who cultivate poppy crop. The punishment is not strict, but this law must be implemented and practiced strongly.