Shahid Malik BBC correspondent in Lahore

Production has surged since the end of the Taleban regime

The forecast, made at a media briefing on Tuesday, echoes the concern of the UN International Narcotics Control Board.

It says that opium cultivation in Afghanistan - used in heroin and other drugs - is now as widespread as in the 1990s.

Brigadier Ashfaq-ur-Rasheed Khan, of Pakistan's Anti-Narcotics Force, expressed concern at "the gravity of the situation".

He said the growth of opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan this year was likely to have serious implications for drug enforcement efforts in Pakistan.

Concern

The brigadier said the projected figure for the current crop was in excess of 4,000 tonnes.

Under the Taleban, the crop had sunk to an all-time low of less than 200 tonnes in 2001.

The Taleban banned production

Last month, the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board voiced its concern over the manifold increase in poppy cultivation last year, despite two decrees by Afghan President Hamid Karzai banning it.

The board said 3,400 tonnes were cultivated in 2002, similar to cultivation levels in the mid-1990s.

Brigadier Khan said the Taleban had effectively banned opium cultivation.

But he said President Karzai's government had other priorities and was not in control of regions outside the capital, Kabul.

He said this was a situation apparently being exploited by Afghan tribes.