It is a story of human misery the Afghan government's public relations team is keen to gloss over but now ten years after the invasion is reaching epidemic proportions.

The country is now home to more than two million heroin addicts or nearly eight percent of the entire population. A drug the coalition forces promised to wipe out is now more prevalent than ever before. Opium in its various forms is freely available on the streets of Kabul and NGOs working with addicts reckon there are now more than 70,000 living in one district alone. 

The Taliban earns more than $400 million from taxing opium 

Even after billions of dollars and countless different strategies, from paying farmers not to grow it to destruction of the poppy crops the country is still the biggest producer of opium in the world. Ninety percent of heroin on British streets comes from the country. Along with defeat of the Taliban and the emancipation of women destruction of the heroin trade was a cornerstone of the coalition strategy in Afghanistan.

If its leaders are now beginning to talk down total victory over the Taliban and claim some success in increasing educational opportunities for women when it comes to heroin their policies have been nothing short of disastrous.

Last year the trade made over £1.4 billion for the Taliban accounting for almost 10% of the country's GDP and the trade's growth shows no sign of slowing, last year it grew 61%. Stoked by corruption at the very highest level, just last year President Karzai freed five convicted smugglers one of whom was related to an aide, NGO's badly need to raise the profile of the problem in the world's media and solutions to both production and consumption have to be found. If not it will be this drug more than any other factor that will keep this country firmly chained in the dark ages.