CAIRO, July 28 (IslamOnline.net) – Cheaper and better quality heroin flooding Britain leaves Prime Minister Tony Blair red-faced over participation in the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, reported a leading British newspaper on Wednesday, July 28.

The Foreign Office's warning on Tuesday, July 27, that this year's opium harvest in Afghanistan will hit records, would be another embarrassment for Blair who largely justified the Afghanistan invasion on stemming heroin trafficking and trade, reported The Independent.

"We act because Al-Qaeda network and the Taliban regime are funded in large parts on the drugs trade ­ 90 per cent of all heroin sold in Britain originates from Afghanistan. Stopping that trade is directly in our interests," Blair said before the war.

"The arms the Taliban are buying today are paid for with the lives of young British people buying their drugs on British streets. That is another part of their regime that we should seek to destroy."

British health workers also warned Tuesday that cheaper and better quality heroin, mostly grown in Afghanistan, was flooding Britain, luring thousands more youngsters into addiction than ever before.

The revelation triggered criticism from several lawmakers who accused the government of complacency and Blair of failing his pledge to reduce opium production.

Taliban had cracked down on drugs cultivators but the regime's fall led to an increase in production, said the British daily.