The Taliban’s move to eradicate the drug trade in Afghanistan and ban opium production has faced challenges on several fronts. With the country being one of the biggest producers of opium and a lack of alternative livelihood, farmers continue to cultivate opium despite the Taliban’s warning.

The illicit opium trade is intertwined with Afghanistan’s economy, which is in turmoil.

However, the production of opium threatens to deter foreign aid in Afghanistan, which has been facing a major economic and humanitarian crisis since the takeover by the Taliban.

Read: Now in power, Taliban set sights on Afghan drug underworld | See Pics

Soon after coming to power on August 15, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the new government won’t allow drug trade in the country. He said, “We are against drugs and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is trying to eradicate the production of narcotics, but it is only possible when the whole world helps us in empowering the farmers and providing them with an alternative to earn their livelihood.”

An Afghan farmer, Abha Wali, told Aljazeera, “We grow poppy so that we can buy bread for the family to survive. No government has helped us. We don’t have adequate water for other crops, so the poppy has become the only available option.

Opium farming has increased by 37 per cent in the last year and is a major source of income across the country. The plant and the drugs that it produces are a multi-million dollar industry.

According to the United Nations, opium harvesting has provided employment to 1,20,000 people in 2019. However, the production of opium threatens to deter foreign aid which is facing a major economic and humanitarian crisis since the takeover by the Taliban.

Read: Taliban face shift from war to policing streets | See Pics

Another farmer, Haji Muhammad Hashim, said, “I do have other farms of potatoes, onions and pomegranates, but because the borders are closed, the whole yield has gone to waste. It cannot reach international buyers. But when I cultivate opium, the buyers come to my house to buy it in cash. We don’t even have to go to the market to sell it.

Even though the production of opium sustains a large part of the country, it also has a devastating impact on the Afghan society fraught with danger from drug addiction.

Dr Ahmad Zahir Sultani said, “We have had problems because of the war. There was no awareness of drug addiction, illiteracy, illegal refugees and the problems of unemployment. These are the reasons why people are so affected by drugs here.

In an attempt to tackle the drug menace, Taliban men also rounded up people and sent them to rehabilitation centres.

During the insurgency years, the Taliban profited from the trade by taxing traffickers, a practice applied to a wide variety of industries in the areas under their control. Research by David Mansfield, an expert on the Afghan drug trade, suggests the group made $20 million in 2020, a small fraction compared to other sources of revenue from tax collection. Publicly, it has always denied links to the drug trade.

But the Taliban also implemented the only largely successful ban on opium production, between 2000-2001, before the US invasion. Successive governments have failed to do the same.