The country, according to a United Nations report, is close to returning to 1990s levels, when it produced nearly 70 percent of the world's illegal opium supply.

According to the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNODCCP) report, opium producers in Afghanistan have secured a heroin consumer base of 9 million, or two-thirds of all heroin users in the world.

The report further showed that the heroin trade produces an estimated annual income of $25 billion.

The growth in opium production is occurring despite a ban enacted by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Prior to the U.S.-led war that dethroned the Taliban regime, Afghanistan controlled the majority of heroin sales throughout the world. In 2001, opium production declined after the Taliban imposed a ban.

"By the time the Afghan interim administration was established and issued a strong ban on opium poppy cultivation, processing, trafficking, and consumption, most opium poppy fields had already started to sprout," the report said.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials are concerned that Afghanistan's return to heroin trafficking could lead to alliances with Colombian cartels operating in the United States. There is also concern that al Qaeda operatives have become involved in the opium trade to raise funds.

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