by Jim Mannion
KABUL, Aug 11 (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld held talks with US commanders and Afghan leaders in Kabul Wednesday after hinting at a new plan to tackle the opium trade, which he warned was hampering democracy as Afghans prepare to vote in their first presidential elections.
Rumsfeld made the unannounced visit to the Afghan capital after travelling from Oman, where he warned Tuesday that the drug trade from Afghanistan's massive opium poppy crop was hindering US efforts to foster democracy in the war-torn central Asian state.
In Muscat he said a "master plan" was being developed to combat the opium boom, but stopped short of committing US troops to the anti-drugs effort, saying the troops were busy fighting insurgents.
"It would require an overall master plan. That is what is being developed," he told reporters Tuesday.
Drug production generated 2.3 billion dollars in Afghanistan in 2003, according to the United Nations, accounting for three-quarters of the world's heroin and 90 percent of the heroin on Europe's streets.
The UN has warned that the drugs trade threatens to turn Afghanistan into a failed narco-state.
Rumsfeld said "a broad effort" was needed to ensure that billions of dollars do not end up in the hands of anti-government forces. "It's something the government and the coalition are determined to address," he said.
He expressed concern in Muscat that drug money raised by insurgents and warlords from bumper poppy crops posed a threat to US efforts to establish democratic rule in Afghanistan, which spent a quarter century under conflict including five years of harsh Taliban rule until late 2001.
Shortly after landing in Kabul Rumsfeld flew to the main eastern city Jalalabad to meet a US military-run team of soldiers and civilians helping to provide security and with reconstruction projects. Jalalabad lies in the center of one of Afghanistan's biggest poppy farming regions.
Rumsfeld met the US commander of the team, known as a Provincial Reconstruction Team, before meeting local dignitaries.
Back in Kabul he was due to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is running for re-election on October 9 against 17 other candidates, and Defence Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim.
Rumsfeld and other defence officials travelling with him said they expected more attacks by Taliban supporters in the run-up to the presidential vote, Afghanistan's first ever, but Rumsfeld said they would fail.
"Is the Taliban still active in the neighbouring areas? Sure. That's just a fact. Are they going to end up being successful? No. They are going to end up losing," he said in Muscat.
Senior defence officials travelling with Rumsfeld said the secretary would use his visit to hold strategy sessions with commanders, US embassy officials and Afghan leaders. The US army heads a 20,000-strong coalition of troops hunting Al-Qaeda insurgents and their allies.
"We're doing another complete strategy review. It's under way right now," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
While the Taliban posed no strategic threat to the government or to the elections, "there are tactical level threats -- assassinations, bombings, the unfortunate killings of NGOs and the like," he said.
"There is a debate over whether we are seeing a spike or whether it is a steady state."
The defence official said the United States wanted to accelerate training and equipping of Afghan army and police units.