Afghanistan puts drugs to the torch

Afghans gathered on a football pitch today and watched soldiers burn a pyre topped with more than half a ton of poppies today - a public display of the government’s commitment to purge the country of drugs.

The destruction of the poppies, from which opium is derived, was the first in Kabul. Interior Minister Taj Mohammed Wardak, who organised two drug burnings when he was governor of Paktia province, said the destruction would be repeated as more drugs were seized.