Monday, January 2 2006 13:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New York: Afghanistan is fighting a losing battle against drug traffickers with a large number of government officials involved in the trade, a newly elected Afghan MP has claimed.

"The chain of narco dollars goes from the district to the highest levels of the government," newly elected member of Afghan Parliament Amanullah Paiman was quoted as saying by Newsweek magazine.

Paiman, who is from far northern province of Badakhshan had studied the country's drug problem. Narcotics constitutes more than half of the economy amounting 2.7 billion dollars annually, according to the United Nations.

The accusation, the magazine says, is supported by the public complaints of Ali Jalali, a former Interior minister who quit the job this past summer. He has repeatedly said he has a list of more than 100 high-ranking Afghan officials he suspects of involvement in the drug trade.

A source close to him, fearful of being killed if identified, told the magazine that Jalali's unpublished list includes at least 13 former and present provincial governors and four past or present cabinet ministers. One of the minister's chief reasons for resigning was his frustration over President Hamid Karzai's failure to sack and prosecute crooked officials, Newsweek says.

But Karzai is in a difficult position. Many of the figures under suspicion were useful to the US in the overthrow of the Taliban. "His options are limited," senior presidential adviser Javed Ludin said adding "the same people who are being accused by some in the international community of being drug traffickers. Are our most reliable partners in the war against terrorism.