Hacker News Reader

In fact the Taliban has been on a spree of destroying poppy crops, often to the despair of starving farmers and their families. The apologists for the regime claim it's a moral stance, driven by Islam, while the rest of us suspect that it's an attempt to shore up the price of opium.

Remember poppy extract can be dried and stored for years, so they already have vast amounts of the stuff. By openly destroying the next crop, they can drive up the price of the reserves they already have, and the Taliban is utterly desperate for currency.

The last time the Taliban were in power up to 2001, they had practically eradicated the growth of opium poppies. After the US invasion of Afghanistan, the growth of opium crops grew again.

I had wondered when the Taliban would start to eradicate opium poppies again. They took longer than I expected.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-65787391

> I wonder if their opiate exports were hit by the rise in fentanyl production

Ask the CIA if they're missing any income