Last week, President Bush noted that that while Karzai's government had shown "good faith efforts" in addressing opium production, it "lacked the capacity" to deal with the problem in Afghanistan's provinces. In his annual report to Congress on drug-producing countries, the president expressed concerns over increased opium cultivation and the government's lack of capacity in the provinces.

It is no surprise that Afghanistan's government has inadequate counternarcotics capacity, since the international community has been slow both in extending its security forces outside Kabul and in rebuilding the country's law enforcement capacity. As a result, the Afghan government currently relies upon local power holders to implement drug interdiction and eradication. These same local leaders derive much of their wealth and power from narcotics, and tend to comply just enough to keep the central government off their backs.

On Friday, the U.S. also noted that its anti-drug campaign in Latin America was not succeeding in reducing supply. According to a BBC report, "U.S. drugs tsar John Walters has admitted that Washington's anti-narcotics policy in Latin America has so far failed…Mr. Walters said in Mexico that billions of dollars of investment over many years have failed to dent the flow of Latin American cocaine onto U.S. streets." U.S.-backed efforts to eliminate traffickers and coca crops have made Columbia the third-largest recipient of U.S. military aid, but have not yielded the desired results. Waters noted that "we have a history in the United States of not following through on programs like this," an ominous observation in the context of Afghanistan.

Will the U.S. and Europe finally put forward the resources to stem the growth of Afghanistan's narcotics trade? According to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the Pentagon is developing an overall "master plan" to curb opium poppy cultivation and trade, though details were not forthcoming. The question remains whether this long-needed step, unlike previous half-steps and errors, will include a viable and comprehensive strategy. Serious attention on this issue is long overdue.

Carl Robichaud is a program officer at The Century Foundation. This article originally appeared in Afghanistan Watch.