Western sources estimate that up to 99% of opium production has been stamped out in provinces like Helmand, which previously cultivated more than half of Afghan poppy. This effort effectively eliminated the global heroin supply, with some rightfully calling it the most successful counter-narcotics effort in human history. Since banning poppy cultivation in April 2022, the Taliban brought down poppy cultivation to less than 1,000 hectares in Helmand, prompting farmers to start planting actually useful crops, like wheat, slowly eliminating the famine created by Western sanctions. The Taliban also banned ephedra cultivation, leading to a mass shutdown of the previously extensive network of ephedrine labs across the country, effectively dismantling the methamphetamine industry.So, how does the mainstream propaganda machine respond to actual, functioning anti-narcotics efforts? If you guessed by praising it, you'd be wrong. Quite the contrary, there's nothing but "severe criticism" of these supposedly "medieval policies and bans". In its late October 2022 piece, the CIA front Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) claimed that the Taliban were "turning a blind eye to opium production", while Foreign Policy's February report insisted that "the Taliban's war on drugs could backfire". And pro-narcotics propaganda continues to this very day, as the so-called United States Institute of Peace (USIP) claimed as late as June that "the Taliban's successful opium ban is bad for Afghans and the world".
