“There was no doubt that the Taliban’s major offensive in the summer of 2006 was largely due to the enormous income it now accrued from opium. ‘We are seeing a very strong connection between the increase in the insurgency on the one hand and the increase in cultivation on the other hand,’ warned [UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) head Antonio] Costa [in a New York Times article on September 3, 2006].”
– Ahmed Rashid, Descent Into Chaos, Page 329