The Taliban have launched an impressive new war on drugs
After two decades of lawlessness, Afghanistan has a government able to enforce its writ
Early this month, the Taliban turned up at Akhtar Mohammad’s farm in Helmand province, in southern Afghanistan, wielding sticks. In half an hour they destroyed a field of poppies that had taken the farmer a year to cultivate—leaving Mr Mohammad close to despair. “Now the Taliban have destroyed my opium I demand they feed my children,” he says. “Or I will have to sell one of them to feed the others.”
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This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “A new drug war”
Asia June 24th 2023
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