NEW YORK -- When NATO leaders meet for their summit in Riga at the end of this month, there will be a ghost at the feast: Afghanistan's opium.
Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into the hands of terrorists, insurgents and criminals, and the multibillion-dollar opium trade is at the heart of the country's malaise. Indeed, NATO's top general, James Jones, has called drugs the "Achilles heel" of Afghanistan.
This year's record harvest of 6,100 tons of opium will generate more than $3 billion in illicit revenue -- equivalent to almost half of Afghanistan's GDP. Profits for drug traffickers downstream will be almost 20 times that amount.