Afghan counternarcotics minister resigns amid another huge poppy crop

KABUL, Afghanistan: Afghanistan's counternarcotics minister has resigned only weeks after Afghan laborers finished cultivating an opium poppy crop that is expected to equal or exceed last year's record haul.

Habibullah Qaderi submitted his resignation to President Hamid Karzai about five days ago, Gen. Khodaidad, the deputy minister, said Sunday.

The resignation was voluntary and was driven in part by health problems, he said, though Qaderi has taken a new position in Canada as Afghanistan's consulate general.

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