U.S. says Afghan Opium Out of Control--Gee Whose Fault Is That????

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"This country could be taken down by this whole drugs problem," Doug Wankel [top U.S. anti-narcotics official in Afghanistan] told reporters in Kabul - echoing strong rhetoric voiced by Karzai last month. "We have seen what can come from Afghanistan, if you go back to 9/11. Obviously the U.S. does not want to see that again."

"If this thing gets out of hand, you could move from a narco-economy to a narco-state. Then you have a very difficult chance for this country being able to achieve what it needs to as a democracy and a nation representing its people," he said.

Wankel described the drug trade - already estimated to account for at least 35 percent of the country's gross domestic product - as a "national security threat to Afghanistan, the region and the world."