An aggressive military campaign and hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have failed to dent opium cultivation in Afghanistan, which hit record levels this year.

The Washington Post reported Aug. 16 that 370,650 acres of poppies were cultivated this year, up from 257,000 in 2005 -- an increase of 40 percent. That's an all-time high, surpassing the 323,700 acres planted in 2004.

"It is a significant increase from last year ... unfortunately, it is a record year," said an U.S. government official in Kabul.

Drug lords in Afghanistan have reportedly joined with Taliban rebels to fight Western soldiers and Afghan government forces trying to eradicate the opium crop.

An estimated 90 percent of the world's heroin supply originates in the poppy fields of Afghanistan. The U.N. estimates that 52 percent of the nation's gross national product comes from opium. "Now what they have is a narco-economy. If they do not get corruption sorted they can slip into being a narco-state," said the U.S. official.

The previous Taliban government had virtually wiped out opium cultivation in 2000.

Efforts to fight drug crops have been hampered by fears that a harsh crackdown could drive rural residents into the arms of the Taliban. "We know that if we start eradicating the whole surface of poppy cultivation in Helmand [province], we will increase the activity of the insurgency and increase the number of insurgents," said Tom Koenigs, the head U.N. official in Afghanistan.