In this book Dipali Mukhopadhyay asserts that, in fact, not all warlords are created equal. Under certain conditions, some of these much-maligned actors are both able and willing to become effective ...

Afghan opium cultivation has hit a record high as international forces prepare to leave the country, the United Nations said on Wednesday, with concern that profits will go to warlords jockeying ...

After the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan and the fall of the Taliban in 2001, regional warlords once again cranked up opium production. No longer in power, the Taliban now saw opium as a way to ...

The Taliban claims opium poppy cultivation was stopped and the flow of illegal drugs halted when it was last in power in Afghanistan. But although there was a sharp drop in 2001 - when it was last ...

Afghanistan used to produce more than 80% of the world's opium. Heroin made from Afghan opium makes up 95% of the market in Europe. The BBC has now travelled in Afghanistan - and used satellite ...

Farah offers a prime example of Afghanistan's nexus between Islamist militancy, crime, opium and Kabul's feeble grip on power. Residents say problems escalated after foreign troops withdrew in ...

Afghanistan’s opium poppy cultivation grew in 2024 despite a Taliban-imposed ban, according to a United Nations report.

Men praying on a small patch of grass last year in Shagai, in Afghanistan’s Bakwa District. The district became a booming hub of production and trade for opium, heroin and methamphetamines.

VIENNA (Reuters) - Opium poppy production in Afghanistan, long the world's dominant supplier of the raw material for heroin, has risen by a fifth in the second full year since the Taliban banned ...

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have succeeded in slashing opium poppy production in the country after banning cultivation of the crop, analysis of satellite imagery and reports from the ground ...

The ban on growing opium poppy has devastating consequences for the Afghan rural population. The Taliban have yet to offer alternatives. Calls for international aid are growing louder. This week ...