LONDON, Oct. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Thursday that opium production in Afghanistan was currently increasing as reconstruction continues in the country.

    "I expect the figures for this year to show a large increase in the area under cultivation, and a significant increase in opium production," Straw said in a speech on the challenges ahead for Afghanistan after its presidential elections.

    "So for all these reasons, the impact of drugs on the UK, the region and most of all on the Afghan people themselves, we must reduce opium cultivation. The UK, our international partners and the Afghan government are determined to do so," Straw said at the London-based think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

    Claiming that Britain, together with the Afghan government and its international partners, would implement a strong and comprehensive strategy which tackles every aspect of the drug problem, Straw said work aimed at reducing drug production should combine eradication, alternative livelihoods, law enforcement, criminal justice, as well as information and treatment campaigns to raise awareness and tackle addiction in Afghanistan itself.

    According to Straw, 95 percent of the heroin on Britain's streets originates in Afghanistan's poppy fields.

    Afghanistan's opium output was about 3,600 tons in 2003 and the United Nations was expected to release its 2004 figures on the country's drug production next week. Enditem