" because they had destroyed their only viable form of income." - Number 6

Funny that, because the word I get from my son is that the farmers would actually prefer to grow anything else as they make more money from it. The Taleban or the local Warlord tells the farmer to grow opium poppy under threat of death to the farmer and/or his family. The farmer cannot sell his crop because it is already "owned" by the Taleban or local Warlord, who pay the farmer a pittance for cultivating it. In other parts of Afghanistan they have already turned away from opium poppy as a crop and are growing other things - those farmers and their families are a damn sight better off.