The Taliban have earned up to $470 million from the Afghan opium trade this year alone, money that is being used to finance the insurgency against US and Afghan forces, the United Nations (UN) said on Thursday. The Taliban earned $50-70 million from imposing a 10 percent charge, called ushr, on economic activities such as opium farming this year, and $200-400 million from levies on opium processing and heroin trafficking, the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its 2008 Afghan opium survey. The income does not include money the Taliban are believed to be making from exports of cannabis, another widely produced Afghan crop. The report said opium poppy production - the raw material for heroin that is exported to Europe, the Middle East and the United States - had actually fallen substantially in 2008 following a US and Afghan government crackdown. The report emphasised that the strategy of tackling opium production and encouraging farmers to grow alternative crops was the right one and should be reinforced.