Some Afghans had hoped, when the UN-led Doha dialogue process started, international actors would confront the Taliban with the UNSC’s demands for restoration of human rights and a move towards inclusive government.  But any time these issues are raised, the Taliban have doubled down on their position.  Therefore, the UN has sidestepped the difficult issues for now and focused on issues where there is supposedly some common ground between the Taliban and Afghanistan’s international partners.  As part of this sidestep, a working group on counter-narcotics has been formed.  This is supposed to bring together international officials and Emirate representatives and give the Taliban a rare chance to claim some credit for what they have done.

But do the Taliban really deserve praise on counter-narcotics?  Ahead of another possible round of dialogue this episode does a reality check on the Emirate’s track record.  We try to reconcile satellite observations of reduced opium poppy cultivation with other reporting that suggests that the Taliban nonetheless remain deeply involved in narcotics trafficking.  Is the Taliban’s Afghanistan on the way to stamping out narcotics or has it become a narco-state?

Podcast produced by Colm Heatley.