Disputes - international:
thousands of Afghan refugees still reside in Iran and Pakistan;
isolating terrain and close ties among Pashtuns in Pakistan make
cross-border activities difficult to control; prolonged regional
drought strains water-sharing arrangements for Amu Darya and Helmand
River states
Illicit drugs:
world's largest producer of opium; cultivation of opium poppy -
used to make heroin - expanded to 30,750 hectares in 2002, despite
eradication; potential opium production of 1,278 metric tons; source
of hashish; many narcotics-processing labs throughout the country;
drug trade source of instability and some government groups profit
from the trade; 80-90% of the heroin consumed in Europe comes from
Afghan opium; vulnerable to narcotics money laundering through the
hawala system