Afghanistan: what the conflict means for the global heroin trade
- Written by Jonathan Goodhand, Professor in Conflict and Development Studies, SOAS, University of London
The long war in Afghanistan reached a potential watershed on August 6 when Taliban fighters took over Zaranj, a dusty frontier town with a population of some 63,000 on the Afghan-Iranian border. Though geographically and politically marginal, Zaranj was the first provincial centre to fall during a month of rapid advances.
In the preceding weeks,...