Prices soar at opium market in Taliban-ruled AfghanistanOpium vendors and buyers chat over green tea around sacks of opium and hashish at a market in Afghanistan. HOWZ-E-MADAD, Afghanistan: As the economy teeters on the brink of collapse, vendors at an opium market in southern Afghanistan say prices for their goods have skyrocketed since the Taliban takeover. Buyers are bracing for a looming shortage, "so the opium price is soaring," said Zekria, who also used a pseudonym to avoid retribution. Afghanistan's opium production has since remained high year after year, producing some 6,300 tonnes last year alone, the UN says. In his office in Kandahar, head of the province's culture department Maulvi Noor Mohammad Saeed told AFP that "opium production is haram and bad for people".
