Aether, no they did not stop it entirely. Blame it on the drought, but the people on the ground there credit the Taliban with severely curtailing opium production.

They were there; I was not. I’m inclined to believe the eyewitnesses.

Don’t forget; the Taliban never controlled the whole country. The HiG and the Taliban occasionally hold hands now, but Gulbudin gave them fits when they were the defacto government. The HiG weren’t the only group out there who controlled some territory and needed money.