Helmand Province, Afghanistan-October 10, 2005:

Afghanistan is the biggest producer of opium in the world, the source of some 87% of the world's heroin production and 90% of all heroin found on the streets of Europe. What does the War on Drugs have to do with the War on Terror? In Helmand province at least, maybe everything.

Historically, the most prosperous center of poppy cultivation in western Afghanistan lies in Helmand, where the desert drug trade flourished after the fall of the Taliban. Under Taliban rule, the distribution of opium was outlawed, but for farmers from the province full of rich soil and isolated farms, opium growth and distribution quickly becomes a lucrative way of life. So profitable is the illicit growth and sale of opium, US officials say Afghanistan hinges on becoming a narco-mafia state.

With the War on Terror still raging within its borders, Afghanistan's US-led security forces face a tough battle against the War on Drugs. While Helmand records a 10% decline in opium cultivation this year, opium production in neighboring Nimroz province increased by a startling 1,370%. Nimroz is more isolated than Helmand and policed far less, so it's believed the drug trade isn't diminishing at all; it's simply moving next door.

The front lines in the Opium Wars are able to shift due to a certain level of national acceptance. According to a national survey in Afghanistan, the second poorest nation on earth, one in four supports the growth of poppies for opium production.

In Afghanistan, most household incomes are less than $500 a year. A successful farmer earns $100 for a field of wheat, but a field of drought-resistant opium earns a farmer a stunning $4,000. All told, the growth and transport of opium is worth $1 billion to drug dealers in Afghanistan, a spectacular incentive for the estimated 2 million opium growers and dealers to protect the crops for another day, another harvest, and the next generation. Afghan drug dealers are now siding with the Taliban in an effort to undermine the new government and its anti-narcotics task forces. With every victory against the US-led establishment, the Taliban undercuts the stability of the new security forces, and the opium pushers gain a little more ground.

On October 10, 2005, an attack takes place. Launched by the two forces of evil that plague Afghanistan, Taliban fighters and opium smugglers, the plan requires a stealthy ambush, tactical expertise, and, perhaps, raw resolve. It works. The terrorists and drug dealers manage to set a trap that leads 20 innocent men to slaughter. Lying in wait, the killers ambush a large police convoy in Helmand Province, targeting 150 Afghan officers with powerful rockets and small-arms fire for hours on end.

The ambush highlights a new, lethal combination of killers who pit themselves against the rebirth of a nation. As the opium dealers fight side-by-side with the Taliban, Afghanistan finds the War on Terror is blurred by a flurry of agendas: drugs and jihad, survival and loyalties. And there's no end in sight.