IT’S NOT WORKING EITHER –
Jan. 28, 2023 – The Taliban tried banning poppy cultivation in 2001, but it was found that Mullah Omar had purchased a huge quantity of opium from the market at a low price just before the ban, and after the decree was issued, the prices shot up. This allowed the Taliban leadership to make a handsome sum of money, which sets a bad precedent in analysing the Taliban’s current claim about acting against illicit opiates. Sara Hakimi, a former Afghanistan Foreign Ministry official specialising in counternarcotics, told the authors that “the Taliban’s statement on eradicating narcotics production was mostly for getting international recognition or legitimacy from Islamic countries as growing and profiting from opiates is considered haram in Islam.”
