Former Gov. Mohammad Daud was replaced by Asadullah Wafa to lead the province that grows more than a third of the world's opium.

Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said Dec. 18 the government was happy with Daud's work but that the appointment of Wafa would help increase security in the province. Helmand is a center of Taliban resistance and accounts for 42 percent of Afghanistan's poppy crop, according to U.N. estimates.

The province's deputy governor, who is the brother of Helmand's former governor, was fired in mid-December. The two are seen by many as linked to the drug trade.

The Japan Times Weekly: Dec. 23, 2006
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