Taliban bans poppy cultivation in Afghanistan and destroys violators’ crops

The Taliban's supreme leader issued a ban on poppy growing in Afghanistan on Sunday, threatening that the country's hardline Islamist government will retaliate against farmers who planted the crop. Afghanistan is the world's largest grower of poppies, the sap that is refined into heroin and its output and exports have increased dramatically in recent years. "All Afghans are informed that poppy cultivation is now totally outlawed across the country," declared Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada in a decree. At a press conference attended by reporters, foreign diplomats, and Taliban officials, government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid read out the order. "Anyone who disobeys the directive will have their crop destroyed immediately, and the violation will be dealt with according to sharia law," it added. This isn't the first time the fundamentalist group has declared the trade illegal. Production was outlawed in 2000, just before the group was deposed by US-led forces in the ...