As the world watches events in Afghanistan unfold, many have started to question what the Taliban rule means for the future of the country’s opium production. Afghanistan is the world’s largest producer of opium poppy, which is the raw material for heroin, one of the world’s deadliest drugs. The country accounted for nearly 83 percent of global opium production between 2015 and 2020, according to the estimates of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). And it’s a key supplier for heroin markets across Europe and Asia. The U.S. military presence failed to curtail opium production throughout the Afghan countryside. For two decades, opiate economy, which includes cultivation of poppy, processing into heroin, and trafficking, has been a major source of cash for Afghanistan. Despite its anti-heroin rhetoric, the Taliban has benefited greatly from this opium poppy economy and become a major player in the world’s drug trade. In its first official press conference …