U.S., Afghan and NATO troops will target heroin processing facilities and traffickers -- but not opium crops -- in an attempt to cut off funding for Taliban rebels in Afghanistan, USA Today reported Oct. 24.

According to a United Nations report, Afghanistan produced over 90 percent of the world's opium poppy crop last year, with Taliban drug-trafficking profits ranging from $60-$80 million a year, said the Pentagon.

"I don't think we appreciated how fast the Taliban was coming back when it got drug money," said Dell Dailey, a State Department counterterrorism coordinator. "You can build an army real fast if you've got money in your pocket."

A revised counterinsurgency plan developed by the Bush administration will probably not take effect after the November presidential election, but some adjustments in strategy, like authorization of a counternarcotics role for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, have already been implemented. Other changes will most likely include increased numbers of troops in Afghanistan, expansion of the Afghan army, and increased efforts by the coalition to work with local tribes.

The revision will not include actions that would eliminate Afghanistan's poppy crop. Rather, the plan will target the Taliban's drug networks and will involve help from Afghan forces. The key is to target the trafficking and not the farmers, said Barnett Rubin, an Afghan expert at New York University, as alienating poppy farmers could undermine support for the U.S. and the Afghan government.