A giant haul of illegal drugs is prepared for destruction in Afghanistan.<br/> <br />The confiscated drugs include raw opium, hashish and chemicals used to process opium into heroin.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (Dari) DEPUTY MINISTER OF AFGHAN INTERIOR FOR COUNTERNARCOTICS, GENERAL BAZ MOHAMMAD AHMADI, SAYING:<br/> <br />"The amount of drugs destroyed in today's ceremony was over 20 tons. These drugs were seized by Afghan counternarcotics police and other Afghan security departments from areas around Kabul."<br/> <br />Afghanistan has long been the world's leading supplier of opium---with opium poppy cultivation hitting an all-time high in 2013, according to a recent UN report.<br/> <br />The U.N. drug office pegged the value of poppy cultivation and opium products produced here in 2013 at about $3 billion - that's a 50 percent increase over the estimated $2 billion in 2012.<br/> <br />This----despite years of counter-narcotics efforts that, the UN report says, have cost the United States a whopping $7.6 billion since t
