AFGHAN security forces deployed yesterday in the lawless frontier province of Helmand began eradicating this year’s record poppy crop.

In a move that could create an explosive atmosphere as the first of thousands of British troops arrive in the area, General Daud Daud, who heads the country’s eradication effort, said that his forces planned to clear thousands of hectares of poppy cultivation over the coming two months.

"The operation has started. Soldiers and police are in position in southern Helmand province. They have started eradication in the south and will move north over the coming weeks and months," he told The Times.

Afghanistan is the world’s largest producer of opium, and Helmand province accounts for a quarter of all production, worth about $3 billion (£1.72 billion) a year. A field survey released on Monday by the Afghan Government and the United Nations predicted an increase in poppy cultivation this year, with Helmand once again the top producer. The province had a bumper crop last year and this year farmers have devoted twice as much land to cultivating poppies.

General Daud, the former military commander of the Northern Alliance, which spearheaded the defeat of the Taleban, said that poppy eradication was now Afghanistan’s most important challenge.

Troops have been ordered to seal off suspected areas, then the police will move in with tractors and ploughs to destroy the poppy fields.

Farmers have vowed to resist by flooding fields and digging deep ditches to make access difficult. But the real opposition will come from powerful drug lords, who have allied themselves to Islamic militants in an effort to protect the lucrative crop and undermine the Government’s authority. Last week the local intelligence chief in Helmand was killed by a roadside bomb and this year the local governor narrowly missed being assassinated by a suicide bomber.

"Helmand is the biggest problem so we decided to go there in force. We have to demonstrate to the people that we are committed, that we are there to stay, that we will fight if necessary," General Daud said.

More than 1,500 soldiers and police were deployed yesterday.

The timing of the operation has unsettled the British military, which is trying to forge good relations with the local community as it prepares to deploy 3,300 soldiers on a three-year mission in Helmand to support the Afghan authorities.

Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Worsley, the commander of British troops in Helmand, did not disguise his concern that the operation could provoke an angry backlash. He was at pains to emphasise that British forces had no part in the eradication process.

"I’m afraid that the eradication has started too late. There is no system in place to help poor farmers make up for the loss of their poppy crops," he said. "The main point we want to drive home is that British soldiers are not involved."

However, General Daud said that once the British contingent was assembled this year it would have a great role, indirectly, to play in future eradication. The British air assault force, led by the Parachute Regiment, will support Afghan troops, who will in turn be responsible for reimposing central authority over Helmand and ridding the province of its drug culture.

Certainly locals seem to draw a clear link from the more aggressive government eradication efforts and the arrival of British forces.

At a recent meeting with British officers, Mullah Mohammed Din spoke for many locals when he warned the authorities and the British Army not to interfere with the poppy crops, which provide the main income for most farmers in the area.

"We have already planted the poppies, myself included," the 67-year-old cleric said. "If you come here to eradicate we will resist. We may be poor farmers, but we have no choice. We must feed our children. If you corner a cat it will fight like a lion."

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