The Taliban's Trojan horse: What really happened after Afghanistan's opium ban

In April 2022, Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada announced a religious decree banning opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan.

Opium poppy cultivation fell by 95% by 2023, from 233,000 hectares to roughly 10,800 hectares, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

Despite the cultivation collapse, heroin availability did not matchingly collapse; the ban was announced just before the 2022 harvest, allowing farmers to harvest and stockpile opium.

Opium prices surged fifteen-fold from $60–75 per kg before the Taliban takeover to $1,000–1,035 per kg by December 2023, incentivizing farmers to withhold stock.

A May 2025 EUDA technical report by researcher David Mansfield and satellite-imagery firm Alcis provides the most detailed account of the ban's implementation and its actual impact.