UNITED NATIONS, Aug 20: A UN report says that despite the presence of some 35,000 Nato troops in Afghanistan, the drug trade there is booming more than ever. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Monday that Afghan opium production in 2006 rose a staggering 57 per cent over the previous year.

The UN report to be released in early September claims that there an additional 15 per cent jump in opium production this year while highlighting the sobering fact that Afghanistan now accounts for 95 per cent of the world’s poppy crop.

But the success of the illegal narcotics industry is not confined to Afghanistan. Business is booming in South America, the Middle East, and Africa and across the United States.