(Thumbnail image: The First Post)

"Afghanistan's opium poppies have been hit by a mysterious disease... A fungus has struck half of the country's crop, which means opium production is set to fall."

The United Nations says a fungus has struck the country that produces more than 90 percent of the world's opium supply. Afghanistan's poppy crops are widely believed to fund the country's insurgency.

But was it a biological attack orchestrated by the West? International media report Afghan farmers are blaming the United States and Britain.

But an article in the U.K.'s The First Post says that's unlikely.

"Put bluntly, a biological weapon with a 25 percent kill rate would be an embarrassment. ... Another boring but plausible explanation is the drought... Water shortage stresses plants, reduces yields — and also makes them more susceptible to pests and disease."

But a correspondent on the ground for the BBC suggests the suspicion is legitimate.

"Those claims of course aren't entirely without foundation because it has been the policy of the government and their foreign allies in the past to try to eradicate these poppy fields because the profits of the opium trade support the Taliban insurgency. About a decade ago, we know that the U.N. and British scientists were trying to develop a fungus, which would destroy the opium poppies grown here."

NPR spoke with an author who says while the short-term effect of farmers blaming the West is bad for foreign efforts to stabilize the country, the U.N. sees a good opportunity in the situation.

GRETCHEN PETERS: "I think that the opportunity here is for the international community, for NATO and the United States to come in with some of the funding that the farmers will need to get through the winter months. The U.N. has suggested that such funds be provided to poppy farmers, as long they pledge to switch to alternative crops in the coming season. In that regard, this could be seen as an opportunity."

Finally, The Guardian says either way, Afghan farmers aren't like to get an answer.

"The government lacks the necessary equipment to conduct proper research. As with all other mysterious incidents in Afghanistan, this story too is likely to be lost and forgotten in the fog of war."

So do you think Afghan farmers were the victims of a biological attack by the West?  Or did Mother Nature give birth to poppy blight?