The Graphic Truth: Opium keeps the Taliban going

The Graphic Truth: Opium keeps the Taliban going
Ari Winkleman

The Taliban (officially) banned opium cultivation last April, as they did before 9/11 and the subsequent US invasion that ousted them from power in Afghanistan. But in the 20 years that followed the group became the Pablo Escobars of the global poppy trade by taxing opium farmers. Now the Taliban say growing poppies is again verboten, but this year's harvest is mostly in the bag, and enforcing the ban won't be easy. We look at opium cultivation in Afghanistan since 1996, when the Taliban first ruled the country.

More from GZERO Media

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer is flanked by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof as he hosts a 'Coalition of the Willing' meeting of international partners on Ukraine at the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) in London, Britain, October 24, 2025.
Henry Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS

As we race toward the end of 2025, voters in over a dozen countries will head to the polls for elections that have major implications for their populations and political movements globally.

The biggest story of our G-Zero world, Ian Bremmer explains, is that the United States – still the world’s most powerful nation – has chosen to walk away from the international system it built and led for three-quarters of a century. Not because it's weak. Not because it has to. But because it wants to.