despite largely successful UN efforts at voluntary repatriation, thousands of Afghan refugees continue to reside in Iran and Pakistan; Pakistan has sent troops into remote tribal areas to control the border and stem organized terrorist and other illegal cross-border activites; regular meetings between Pakistani and coalition allies aim to resolve periodic claims of boundary encroachments; occasional conflicts over water-sharing arrangements with Amu Darya and Helmand River states
Refugees and internally displaced persons
IDPs: 167,000 - 200,000 (mostly Pashtuns and Kuchis displaced in south and west due to drought and instability) (2004)
Illicit drugs
world's largest producer of opium; cultivation of opium poppy - used to make heroin - expanded to 30,750 hectares in 2002, despite eradication; potential opium production of 1,278 metric tons; source of hashish; many narcotics-processing labs throughout the country; drug trade source of instability and some government groups profit from the trade; 80-90% of the heroin consumed in Europe comes from Afghan opium; vulnerable to narcotics money laundering through informal financial networks
