> I would expect that a group that has been hunted for 2 decades to be only just barely managing to survive - how do they have weapons, transportation, logistic

> I would expect that a group that has been hunted for 2 decades to be only just barely managing to survive - how do they have weapons, transportation, logistics etc to be able to basically get their act together like the past 20 years never happened? ----- > Afghanistan's opium poppy harvest produces more than 90% of illicit heroin globally, and more than 95% of the European supply. As of 2017, opium production provides about 400,000 jobs in Afghanistan, more than the Afghan National Security Forces [0] > In 2020, the area under opium cultivation expanded to 224,000 hectares from 163,000 hectares - overwhelmingly in areas under Taliban control. [1] [2] > Meth is even more profitable than heroin—and is turbocharging the insurgency. > The officials described the Taliban as the world’s biggest drug cartel and said the group is using heroin transshipment routes to push methamphetamine into new markets in Australia, Asia, North America, Europe and Africa.[4] > Later, a NATO report, accessed by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, claimed that Taliban's annual budget had increased to USD 1.6 billion in the financial year 2019-20. It said that the militant group had increased its profits through illicit drug trade, illegal mining, and exports. [3] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_production_in_Afghanistan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_production_in_Afghanista... [1] https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/current-affairs-trends/narco-state-in-afghanistan-taliban-opium-trade-to-fund-power-grab-insurgency-7334791.html https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/current-affairs-tre... [2] https://theconversation.com/afghanistan-what-the-conflict-means-for-the-global-heroin-trade-165995 https://theconversation.com/afghanistan-what-the-conflict-me... [3] https://english.jagran.com/world/explained-how-do-the-taliban-fund-itself-and-its-fighters-in-afghanistan-all-you-need-to-know-10030688 https://english.jagran.com/world/explained-how-do-the-taliba... [4] https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/19/taliban-expanding-drug-trade-meth-heroin/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/19/taliban-expanding-drug-...