Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

World Service,05 Jul 2025,26 mins

Is the Taliban’s war on drugs working?

The Fifth Floor

Available for over a year

Afghanistan used to produce more than 80% of the world's opium, the key ingredient for the drug heroin. When the Taliban took over, they banned poppy farming completely. 3 years on, how has this measure been implemented and how is it affecting people? Yama Bariz and Mamoon Durrani from the BBC's Afghan service discuss the effectiveness of the Taliban's poppy eradication campaign and explain how the trade is moving to Pakistan. Plus, what's behind the success of BBC Lê, the online platform where you can listen to BBC articles in Portuguese, with World Service editor Silvia Salek. And the re-opening of the Saint Georges Hotel in Beirut, with Joya Berbery from BBC Arabic. This episode of The Documentary comes to you from The Fifth Floor, the show at the heart of global storytelling, with BBC journalists from all around the world. Presented by Faranak Amidi Produced by Alice Gioia and Caroline Ferguson This is an EcoAudio certified production. (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

Programme Website
More episodes