Jalalabad dispatch: Strange victories in poppy province

Good news from Nangarhar, the sleepy province that once headlined Afghanistan's booming drugs trade. This year's poppy crop is up - but only by 350%. "We're very happy with the figure," said a western drugs official.

That might seem a strange reaction in a country sliding helter-skelter towards becoming a narco-state. This year the poppy crop soared to record levels as links between drug kingpins, the Taliban and corrupt officials grow worryingly strong.

But victories come in strange forms in the floundering war on drugs. Nangarhar, tucked into the southeastern corner on the Pakistani border, offers both hope and apprehension for the future.

A province of sweeping valleys and sprawling orchards, Nangarhar used to be known for two things -the labyrinthine Tora Bora caves, where Osama bin Laden was last seen, and its farmers' unseemly enthusiasm for poppy. In 2004 it was one of Afghanistan's top poppy provinces, accounting for one fifth of the national crop.

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