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The Graphic Truth: Opium keeps the Taliban going

August 16, 2022
Carlos Santamaria
and
Ari Winkleman
The Graphic Truth: Opium keeps the Taliban going
Ari Winkleman

The Taliban (officially) banned opium cultivation last April, as they did before 9/11 and the subsequent US invasion that ousted them from power in Afghanistan. But in the 20 years that followed the group became the Pablo Escobars of the global poppy trade by taxing opium farmers. Now the Taliban say growing poppies is again verboten, but this year's harvest is mostly in the bag, and enforcing the ban won't be easy. We look at opium cultivation in Afghanistan since 1996, when the Taliban first ruled the country.

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