WASHINGTON, May 22 (Xinhuanet) -- United States officials have faulted Afghan President Hamid Karzai in an internal memo with reluctance to enforce an American-financed poppy eradication program in his country, The New York Times reported Sunday.

    "Although President Karzai has been well aware of the difficulty in trying to implement an effective ground eradication program, he has been unwilling to assert strong leadership, even in his own province of Kandahar," the newspaper quoted a cable sent on May 13 from the United States Embassy in Kabul as saying.

    The three-page cable, which was addressed to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, also faulted Britain, which has the top responsibility for counternarcotics assistance in Afghanistan, forbeing "substantially responsible" for the failure to eradicate more acreage.

    US officials said they worried that heroin trafficking could threaten the American-led reconstruction effort in Afghanistan and worsen corruption in the country's fledgling central government.

    In Washington, State Department officials defended Karzai, who is scheduled to visit next week, saying the effort had been hampered by bad weather and logistical problems as well as by political resistance.

    "President Karzai is a strong partner and we have confidence inhim," said the State Department spokesman, Richard A. Boucher.

    Since beginning work last month, the country's Central Poppy Eradication Force, an American-trained group, has destroyed less than 250 acres (about 100 hectares), according to American officials. Its original goal was to eradicate 37,000 acres (about 14,800 hectares), but that target has recently been reduced to 17,000 acres (about 6,800 hectares).

    The US State Department said in its annual report on international drug report released in March that Afghanistan is onthe verge of becoming a narcotics state and its narcotics situation represents "an enormous threat to world stability." Enditem