WASHINGTON, Feb 26: The United States has removed Pakistan and India from the list of states whom it considers to be drug producers or drug transit points, according to the annual presidential certification of countries cooperating in US counter-narcotics efforts released on Monday afternoon.

Three countries, Afghanistan, Haiti and Burma, have been named as having “failed demonstrably to make substantial counter-narcotics efforts over the last 12 months”. The reference to Afghanistan does not relate to the interim government, and drug-related sanctions have been removed from that country.

The annual presidential certification is required by Congress as a condition for giving US aid to foreign states. Twenty-three nations, including Pakistan and India, are included in the annual assessment.

Before Sept 11 and the ouster of the Taliban, the US had praised that regime for eradicating poppy growing, but noted that opium trafficking and heroin processing had continued and drug stockpiles remained in the country. There are now fresh worries that poppy cultivation may register a surge, and preliminary estimates are that Afghanistan may be about to produce a substantial amount of opium poppy, approaching the near record levels before the Taliban banned poppy cultivation and strictly enforced the ban.