Production rose by six percent on last year, to around 3,600 metric tonnes, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime found.

Agency director Antonio Maria Costa said the country was at a crossroads and risked falling into the hands of "drug cartels or narco-terrorists".

Afghanistan is the world's leading producer of illicit opium.

Antonio Maria Costa

In its annual survey, the Vienna-based agency found that opium poppy was now being planted in 28 out of 32 provinces.

It found that though new measures by Hamid Karzai's administration had helped cut production in some traditional poppy growing areas, cultivation was rapidly spreading in new areas.

Afghan opium farmers and traffickers brought home about $2.3bn in 2003, said the report.

"Out of this drug chest, some provincial administrators and military commanders take a considerable share," said Mr Costa.

"The more they get used to this, the less likely it becomes that they will respect the law, be loyal to Kabul and support the legal economy.

"Terrorists take a cut as well. The longer this happens, the greater the threat to security within the country and on its borders."… ...