Afghanistan, the world's largest grower of opium poppies, should not shoulder all the blame for its drug surge, its foreign minister said Tuesday while on a visit to Estonia. "It's not only Afghanistan but the global demand for drugs that should be blamed for illegal narcotics from Afghanistan," Zalmai Rassoul told reporters in Tallinn.

Bringing that demand down "requires an international effort", he added, as Afghanistan struggles to eradicate its rapidly growing poppy industry. The United Nations released a report this month warning that the country, one of the world's poorest, is moving towards record levels of opium production this year. Opium is used to make heroin. Afghanistan already cultivates about 90 percent of the global opium supply and now production is expected to rise for a third straight year, expanding even to poppy-free areas.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2013