It is becoming an increasingly common sight in the east of Afghanistan, not far from the city of Jalalabad -- the drug warriors arrive shortly after sunrise.

Armed with sticks, they fight their way through the poppy fields, destroying the plants so no raw opium can be obtained. The farmers look on -- angry and annoyed.

One complains, saying there is no alternative: "There are no businesses here, no factories and nowhere else where we could work. We can only feed our families by growing poppy. This is our only livelihood. And the government is taking it away."

Quest for normality

Christina Oguz from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, or UNODC, in Kabul agrees that the farmers are just looking to make a living: ""I don't think Afghan farmers are very different from other people."

"They want to have a normal life," she adds. "They want to send their children to school. They don't want to risk being bombed or being shot at. If they could choose, they would choose a more secure life."

Instead of simply destroying the poppy fields, which the province's government has started to do fervently, Oguz says it would make more sense to help the farmers cultivate other crops and eradication should always be the "last resort".

Flourishing trade

Whereas in the more peaceful provinces of Afghanistan, there are some more or less successful attempts to curb drug cultivation, in the restive parts of the country poppy is flourishing as never before. It would amount to a Herculean task to destroy all the plants.

This is especially true in Helmand province -- a Taliban stronghold. This province alone supplies the world market with more drugs than Morocco or Columbia for example. And Oguz doesn't see much hope for change, saying that there is corruption there.

There are also "drug traffickers, who are very strong, and strong insurgents, resulting in no security. In these circumstances what we would normally prescribe doesn't really work."

Until there is more peace and stability, Afghanistan's farmers cannot be certain of a bright and secure financial future, and the country will continue to hold the dubious title of world's number one illegal drug exporter.