Under Taliban rule, opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan rose substantially, from around 41,000 hectares in 1998 to more than 64,000 in 2000, according to U.S. State Department data. This dramatic increase, concentrated in the Helmand province, made Afghanistan the world's largest producer of opium, fueling the global heroin trade and providing a significant source of revenue for the Taliban regime.

The Taliban's involvement in the opium trade has been a subject of intense literary and journalistic scrutiny, with poets and writers from Afghanistan and abroad documenting the human and environmental costs. The poppy fields of Helmand have become a symbol of the country's tragedy, inspiring verses that lament the cycle of poverty, violence, and addiction that the trade perpetuates.