The commanding general in charge of all U.S. Marines in Afghanistan said Friday that U.S. forces have dealt a blow to the Taliban's multimillion-dollar opium business by securing deals that will take half of all poppy-producing land in the country's central area.

Afghanistan supplies 90 percent of the world's opium, the main ingredient in heroin.

Maj. Gen. Richard Mills said during a video conference call at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County that farmers who own half of such land in Helmand Province, the center of Afghanistan's poppy production, have pledged to not reseed next year.

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