APsplainin the uncontested rulers of Afghanistan's Opium War, War on Drugs, stains, stigma, imprisonment, withdrawal, mental health, poverty

The heavy-handed methods are welcomed by some health workers, who have had no choice but to adapt to Taliban rule. "We are not in a democracy anymore, this is a dictatorship. And the use of force is the only way to treat these people," said Dr. Fazalrabi Mayar, working in a treatment facility. He was referring specifically to Afghans addicted to heroin and meth.

dragnet

By midnight, they were taken to the Avicenna Medical Hospital for Drug Treatment, on the edges of Kabul. Once a military base, Camp Phoenix, established by the U.S. army in 2003, it was made into a drug treatment center in 2016. Now it's Kabul's largest, capable of accommodating 1,000 people.

The men are stripped and bathed. Their heads are shaved. Here, a 45-day treatment program begins, said Dr. Wahedullah Koshan, the head psychiatrist.
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They will undergo withdrawal with only some medical care to alleviate discomfort and pain. Koshan conceded the hospital lacks the alternative opioids, buprenorphine and methadone, typically used to treat heroin addiction. His staff have not been paid since July, but he said the Health Ministry promised salaries would be forthcoming.

The Taliban have broader aims. "This is just the beginning, later we will go after the farmers, and we will punish them according to (Islamic) Sharia law," said lead patrol officer Qari Ghafoor.