By Andrew L. Jaffee

The Taliban, supposedly some of the most ardent adherents to Sharia, continue to profit from opium. Wait a minute; doesn’t a strict observance of Islamic law prohibit the use of intoxicants? Obviously, the Islamists we’re now fighting make exceptions to the Law of G#d when it suits their needs. But Islamism is just another ism, like communism and fascism; a “utopian” ideology in which “the ends justify the means.” Yesterday, the BBC reported:

The Vienna-based Office on Drugs and Crime said in its report that poppy cultivation in Helmand province alone, which has seen a sharp rise in Taleban-led attacks on international troops, had risen by 162% since last year.

Only six of the country’s 34 provinces are opium-free, the report says.

This is nothing new:

“Narcotics-linked income strengthens the Taliban’s capacity to provide support for international terrorism,” [US Department of State Coordinator for Counter-terrorism] Sheehan testified. “The Taliban admit to imposing the same ushr, a 10 percent tax, on poppy as they impose on other agricultural crops.”