Opium trade blooms in Afghanistan as country’s economy wilts after Taliban takeover

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for free here: https://sc.mp/subscribe-youtube With Afghanistan’s economy on the brink of collapse, farmers in the southern city of Kandahar are turning to the region’s most lucrative cash crop – opium poppies. Opium prices have risen three-fold after the Taliban promised not to become a narco-state and end its reliance on the opium harvest. For decades, the Taliban funded its insurgency partly through the opium trade, according to the United Nations, whose data showed that in 2020, 85 per cent of the world’s opium was grown in Afghanistan. Support us: https://subscribe.scmp.com Follow us on: Website: https://www.scmp.com Facebook:   / scmp   Twitter:   / scmpnews   Instagram:   / scmpnews   Linkedin:   / south-china-morning-post   #scmp #Asia #Afghanistan