Afghan opium cultivation jumps 10% in 2016: UN

Afghanistan saw a 10% jump in opium cultivation this year because of bumper harvests, collapsing eradication efforts due to growing insecurity and declining aid to combat drugs, the UN said on Sunday. Cultivation dropped last year due to drought but it has been on the rise in the past decade, fuelling the Taliban insurgency and spurring a growing crisis of drug addiction despite US-led counternarcotics programmes.