Truly unprecedented or business as usual – fact-checking the Taliban narcotics bans

In April 2022 Amir Haibatollah decreed a total ban on the cultivation, production and trafficking of narcotics. The general decree is complemented by orders banning specific aspects of Afghanistan’s narcotic trade, such as the trade in the ephedra plant, a natural source of ephedrine. In this episode we reality-check the bans, along the way considering reports by leading analyst of Afghan narcotics, David Mansfield (“Truly unprecedented, the Taliban’s drugs ban v2.0”) and the UN crime agency UNODC’s August 2023 research brief “Understanding illegal methamphetamine manufacture in Afghanistan”.

The Amir’s decree clearly has been consequential as it was followed by a dramatic reduction in 2022 planting of opium in the main production areas. Many might be unsurprised to find that Afghanistan continues to produce and export opium, heroin, crystal meth and cannabis, despite the ban. After all, narcotics trafficking continued during the Republic, despite international counter-narcotics assistance. But the political and security context of the Emirate fundamentally differs from that of the Republic. The Taliban have complete control of the national territory, have developed a security apparatus that aims to penetrate every village and proclaim a doctrine of obedience to the Amir. We try to make sense of how the Taliban really approach the challenge of the narcotics economy.

Podcast produced by Colm Heatley.