Countries must step up efforts, U.N. envoy says

Poppy cultivation is expected to expand again this year.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The top U.N. envoy to Afghanistan said Tuesday the international community must step up efforts to help develop the war-ravaged country, improve security and eradicate the drug trade in order to counter a Taliban resurgence.
"To be candid, international participation needs to improve," Tom Koenigs, the U.N.'s special representative to Afghanistan, told an open meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
"I am counting on the support of the council to make the Afghanistan National Development Strategy work," he said, referring to the Afghan government's overarching plan for rebuilding the country. "It will only deliver results if everyone contributes to the process."
Afghanistan's U.N. ambassador, Zahir Tanin, echoed the call for international aid, saying his country has received "far less assistance from the donor community in comparison to other post-conflict countries."
Tanin said reconstruction projects and basic services should be expanded throughout Afghanistan and more attention should be paid to the "inextricable link between development and security."
The Bush administration has said it would ask Congress for 10.6 billion for training Afghan security forces and reconstruction. The U.S has given 14.2 billion in aid to Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban government.
Violence
Afghanistan has seen a surge in violence over the past year as supporters of the former Taliban regime have increased suicide and roadside bombings, particularly in the volatile south.
The country's problems also include widespread judicial corruption, porous border areas that provide training ground for insurgents and increasing poppy cultivation.
The U.N. drug office warned this month that 2007 cultivation could expand again after last year's record crop, which spiked upward by 59 percent. Profits from poppy, the raw material for heroin, are being used to fuel terrorism and the Taliban insurgency, experts say.
"The vicious circle of drugs funding terrorism and terrorism funding the drug trade is stronger than ever," Antonio Maria Costa, head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, told the Security Council.
Koenigs said all donor governments should ensure "meaningful participation" in Afghanistan, beefing up staffing and resources on the ground and strengthening the military presence.
Germany, France, Italy and other European allies have been criticized in the past for limiting the role of their NATO troops to relatively quiet areas of Afghanistan, while the U.S., Britain, Canada and the Netherlands operate in the dangerous southern region.
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