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【正文】 er Ali Amad Jalali, who resigned last month after plaining about the lack of progress in stemming the opium trade, and bringing government officials involved in it to justice.Last June, his elite Afghan antidrug force, trained and assisted by the British, raided the offices of Sher Muhammed Akhundzada, the Governor of Helmand Province, another warlord widely suspected of being involved in the drug trade.They seized nine and a half tons on opium, but the investigation went nowhere. Governor Akhunzada said the drugs were not his but that they had been seized by police and were just being stored at his headquarters.He showed 60 Minutes a locker now loaded with another two and a half tons of opium. This is opium that we confiscated. We have to keep the confiscated opium in a safe place. And this is where we keep it, says Akhunzada, through a translator.Not everyone bought that argument, especially the chief counternarcotics officer for Helmand Province. When the investigation stalled, Abdul Samad Haqqani went on Radio Liberty, which is funded by the . Congress, and denounced the governor as a major narcotics trafficker.Haqqani has since disappeared and President Karzai says he would look into the matter.As for the tons of opium in the Governor39。s administrative office, Karzai wasn39。t the least bit surprised.It39。s almost half of the economy, he says. Why would it surprise me if there was poppy found in a governor39。s office? Or administrative offices? Whether they were confiscated or whether they belonged to somebody. In both cases, it doesn39。t surprise me.Asked how his government would deal with the governor amid these allegations, Karzai says the governor asked to be removed.This governor of Helmand, he has e to me a number of times to say that he is tired of working in Helmand precisely because of these allegations, Karzai says. He says, 39。Well remove me39。 and we have not removed him. Because right now, under the circumstances, any replacement would find it difficult to continue the fight against terrorism the way he39。s doing it there — in that province and at the borders.Karzai went on to say that no investigation was needed and that the governor could be removed and assigned to other government work.We don39。t need an investigation on him, Karzai says. We will remove him from his place and bring him to do some other government work. Maybe he should bee a senator or something.Antonio Maria Costa, director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, says he has pleaded with Karzai to do something about senior officials and governors involved in the drug business.These people who have been involved, senior officials and governors who were involved in the drug economy should be removed, says Costa. Removed from office and possibly removed from the country.Costa says the need to fight terrorism and defeat the insurgency should not be used as an excuse to ignore the opium trade. I think it is the responsibility of the Afghan government and the foreign powers assisting it to fight both narcotics and the insurgency. I will say that fighting one is equal to fighting the other.The British, who have overall responsibility for counter narcotics in Afghanistan, and the Americans, have limited their role to assisting the Karzai government in training antidrug units and providing occasional logistical support for their missions to confiscate opium and destroy drug labs. So far they have destroyed 150 labs.The American military has no direct role in counter narcotics. Its responsibility is fighting terrorism and providing security and stability. If . troops e across opium they can take action but it is not part of their mission.Robert Charles says the . military has limited resources to mit to the effort and feels that aggressive action could disrupt the flow of intelligence. It is easy to say, 39。We will get to this issue in time39。 the way we get to other social issues. But we don39。t have time.And Charles doesn39。t think it is just a threat to the mission. I think it is a threat to the Democracy. Why is it a threat to democracy? First, it has a potential for public corruption. Second, it funds the violent elements in society. Finally, it sends a signal that the rule of law doesn39。t matter.One . counternarcotics official told Kroft that corruption is worse in Afghanistan than it is in Colombia, and estimated that 90 percent of the police chiefs are either directly involved in the drug business or protecting those who are.The British trained mobile unit says it is under orders to stop police cars and official motorcades as well as ordinary buses. Official vehicles are the preferred means of transporting opium.There have been a few small successes. The government has stepped up a modest poppy eradication program, and with the help of the . state department is trying to persuade farmers to grow alternative crops.The number of acres of poppy under cultivation actually dropped 20 percent in 2005, although opium and heroin production remained about the same.In the village of Kushkak, farmers told 60 Minutes that they voluntarily quit growing opium poppy after the government promised to build them health clinics, schools and roads. But the promises have not materialized and they are growing impatient.We did promise them alternative livelihoods, says Karzai. We have told them that they should stop growing poppy, that we39。ll be there to help them. And if we don39。t do that, people out of desperation will go back to poppies, and we should not allow that.But illegal profits from the opium and heroin trade are not only helping warlords and corrupt officials expand their influence over the government. There is evidence that some of the money is ending up with the Taliban and al Qaeda, who elicit tolls, protection money and drugs from traffickers in areas they control.Narcotics is such an insidious, creeping, pot