Opium poppies have long been a key source of income for Afghanistan's farmers. However, with the Taliban's return to power and a ban on poppy cultivation, the country is now grappling with the economic impact of its loss.
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00:00Things used to be easier for Afghan farmers like Asadullah.
00:08For much of the last 20 years, during the period spanning the U.S. occupation of his
00:12country, he harvested opium from the poppies he grew in his fields.
00:17When refined into heroin and sold on the black market, it provided a tidy living.
00:22It used to cost 10,000 to 20,000 to 30,000 Riyals a month, now it costs 100,000 a month.
00:33Despite taxing opium to fund their two-decade insurgency, the Taliban began enforcing a
00:38long-standing ban on its cultivation about a year after retaking power in 2021.
00:44This resulted in a 95% drop in harvests in what was once the world's largest producer
00:49of the drug.
00:51It's a drop that's hit farmers hard and at times sparked violent protests, like in May
00:56when clashes between poppy farmers and soldiers sent to destroy their fields resulted in several
01:01deaths in the northeast province of Badakhshan.
01:21The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime says the poppy ban resulted in losses of over a billion
01:26U.S. dollars for Afghan farmers last year.
01:28And while many have switched to legal crops like cotton, these don't pull in the same
01:32kind of money.
01:42Not everyone is content to follow the rules.
01:45Some Afghans, like this imam, keep a stash of opium from their final harvest hidden away
01:49for a rainy day.
02:10A fist-sized clump of resin, hidden like a wad of cash in a mattress, could cover the
02:14cost of a dowry or a wedding.
02:17Big financial burdens in a country where large families are of a norm.
02:37But these illicit stashes of opium will eventually run dry.
02:40And the resulting hardship is already destabilizing the country.
02:44Videos on social media from May's clashes show farmers calling for an end to the Taliban
02:49government, one that their opium helped put in power.
02:53John Su and Bryn Thomas for Taiwan Plus.