Taliban set sights on Afghan drug underworld
The Hindu
Battle-hardened fighters-turned-policemen scour the capital’s drug-ravaged underworld. Hundreds of homeless men addicted to heroin and methamphetamines are rounded up, beaten and forcibly taken to treatment centers
Now the uncontested rulers of Afghanistan, the Taliban have set their sights on stamping out the scourge of narcotics addiction, even if by force.
At nightfall, the battle-hardened fighters-turned-policemen scour the capital’s drug-ravaged underworld. Below Kabul’s bustling city bridges, hundreds of homeless men addicted to heroin and methamphetamines are rounded up, beaten and forcibly taken to treatment centers. The Associated Press gained rare access to one such raid last week.
The scene provided a window into the new order under Taliban governance. The men — many with mental illness, according to doctors — sat against stone walls with their hands tied. They were told to sober up or face beatings.