Afghanistan's ruling Taliban criticized the United Nations Friday for pulling out of a key anti-drug program.

Western European nations and the United States have cut finding for a UN Drug Control Program (UNDCP) initiative that provides substitute crops for opium farmers. The Taliban recently agreed to ban all opium cultivation in Afghanistan.

"We are wondering how the UNDCP can step out of its program on the pretense of not having the funding," said Mullah Abdel Hamid Akhundzada, head of the Taliban's drug control commission. "We have fulfilled our obligations. We demand that the agreement we made should be fulfilled up to the end" (Rory McCarthy, London Guardian, 23 Sep). Akhundzada also said less than one-third of the project's available funding had been used, and that the country cannot carry out the obligations without international support.

Bernard Frahi, the UNDCP's representative for Southwest Asia, said the assertion that two-thirds of the funding remains unspent was "simplistic." He also said there has been a drop in expected donor support for the program. But he also said the Taliban has been indifferent in its anti-drug efforts, which has led the international donors to withhold support. "This year the Taliban decreed to ban production totally. That's great, but based on what we saw last year we want to see results," he said. "You can say 'we're good,' but you have to be good. The donor community is very skeptical and careful" (Tasgola Karla Bruner, South China Morning Post, 25 Sep).

Last September, Taliban leader Mohammed Omar ordered that all drug cultivation be cut by one-third, but that goal has not yet been achieved (McCarthy, London Guardian).