Afghan Taliban wipe out massive poppy crops: UNDCP
Tuesday February 20, 2:58 PM
ISLAMABAD, Feb 20 (AFP) - Afghanistan's Taliban militia have wiped out the massive opium industry in their territory just a few months after issuing a decree banning the crop, the United Nations said Tuesday.

The United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) said a survey last month of 2,200 villages in Taliban-controlled areas found no poppy cultivation at all, although only last year the country was the world's biggest producer.

UNDCP representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Bernard Frahi told AFP he would "buy a bottle of champagne" for anyone who found anything more than scattered opium plants in the inspection areas.

"I'm not saying it's poppy free but I can tell you that in Taliban-controlled areas we should not find any poppy this year," he said.