Fighting a two-front battle against Taliban insurgents and narcotics trafficking, NATO officials are discussing the possibility of legalizing Afghanistan's opium production so they can focus more on the insurgency and cut funding for the rebels, Spiegel reported March 27.

Ninety percent of all opium worldwide comes from Afghanistan, and profits from the illegal narcotics trade have helped fund the Taliban insurgents. Efforts to curtail opium production in the country have been repeatedly stymied. "We are not bringing drug cultivation under control with the concepts we have had up to now," a NATO general recently told reporters.

French, German and Italian government officials and NATO leaders are now discussing the possibility of legalization to prevent an estimated $3 billion in annual drug profits from winding up in the hands of Islamist fighters. The discussion comes as Afghan officials predict another bumper crop of opium poppies in 2007 if the fighting in the country is not curtailed.

Efforts to eradicate Afghan opium, pressed by the U.S. government, have not only failed to stem the drug trade but has also aligned opium farmers with the Taliban, critics say.