In a early release of the Sunday New York Times Magazine, former Bush Administration Official Thomas Schweich writes that the highest levels of the Afghan Government is allowing the drug trade to flourish.

From the BBC News article on the report:

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is obstructing efforts to tackle his country’s drugs problem, says a former US narcotics official.

Ex-US state department expert Thomas Schweich said Mr Karzai had protected drug lords for political reasons.

In an article for the New York Times, he claimed “narco-corruption went to the top of the Afghan government”.

President Karzai has denied the claims, saying his government was succeeding in the field of counter-narcotics.

“Nobody has done as well as us in the last seven years in the field of counter-narcotics,” he told reporters.

Read the full article by Thomas Schweich in the New York Times here.