Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-IL), commented on a report released Nov. 18 by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime detailing a 60 percent increase in Afghan opium production in the past year. Hyde attributed the increase in Afghan opium and heroin production to lack of a coherent and coordinated U.S. anti-drug strategy. “Drug production and smuggling are a chief source of income for antigovernment forces and terrorists targeting coalition troops in Afghanistan. We should move expeditiously to create counter-narcotics battalions to target and destroy heroin production labs and opium storage depots until Afghan drug fighting institutions are in place and operational. To discourage cultivation of opium, the U.S. and Europe should embrace an Afghan trade preference, modeled after the Andean trade preference,” Hyde said.