U.S. Army soldiers walk past a poppy field during a patrol through the village of Jelawar in the Arghandab Valley north of Kandahar. Photo: Reuters

Afghanistan plans to destroy 15,000 hectares of poppy fields this year in its latest efforts to control the heroin trade that fuels endemic violence and corruption, officials said Sunday. However, this will not be an easy task. 24 policemen and 7 soldiers have died in this campaign since the beginning of the year from the mines and bullets of the poppy growers. Afghanistan is thought to have produced about 90 per cent of the world’s opium in 2012.