The Taliban will use narcotics

to fund their regime if they need to. They will do it in the same way they will say that all girls will be able to go back to school and that the rights of women will be respected. To put it simply they will say one thing and do another. They will do what it takes to retain power and maintain control.

All this will be fine if you are male who does not fall foul of their "supreme" leaders. For women and girls, for anyone who does not abide by their interpretation of Islam it will be a disaster.

It is also perhaps an argument for other countries to continue to give Afghanistan aid. That aid will reduce the need for people to rely on the sale of opium for heroin production.

Or we can go in the other direction and give nothing, prevent aid flowing in from anywhere and hope that the inevitable revolt succeeds. (What is more likely in that event is that the Chinese will provide assistance and expect to be repaid many times over - just as they have done in so many other places.)    

"It can't be that bad Cat!" I was told yesterday. Yes it can. It is far worse than the situation the news media is portraying. 

Afghanistan is actually a resources rich country.It should be quite a wealthy one. It has vast supplies of oil and natural gas and, more importantly, things like lithium. The problem is that, even if these resources were being sold to the rest of the world most people in Afghanistan would not benefit. The Taliban would. Under their version of Islam the poor, rapidly increasing in number, would remain poor.  Islam does not view social welfare in the same way as Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism or even Communism. 

I do not doubt the Taliban will use the opium trade to exploit others and extend their grip on power. They will then use the natural resources to maintain it - if they can.