Vendors are gathered at an opium market in southern Afghanistan. "We hate opium and don't want to plant it as we don't want to face problems in the future but we have no choice," says one vendor. Plunging his knife into a large plastic bag filled with four kilograms (nine pounds) of what looks like brown mud, a man extracts a lump and places it in a small cup suspended over a primus flame. The poppy resin quickly begins to boil and liquify, and he and his partner can display to buyers that their opium is pure. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES