Help us or we'll grow opium, say Afghan villagers

China Daily | Updated: 2009-06-17 07:47

Afghan farmers attend an anti-narcotics gathering in Talbozag village of Badakhshan province on June 14. The remote northern Afghanistan province has been a showcase for government efforts to battle the drugs trade, which accounts for nearly all the world's heroin. Reuters

TALBOZANG, Afghanistan: Fifty-year-old Abdul Wadud walked for two hours across Afghanistan's remote northern mountains to hear a police commander give yet more promises of aid for those who turn their backs on growing opium.