
Far away from the war, in the remote hills of Badakhshan, there is another battle raging. Trundling into the valleys on dusty roads ripped up by large SUVs, an Afghan task force is heading towards their target: an industry so profitable that many fear it's Afghanistan's only viable option once the West pulls its troops and money out. We've joined up with the Ministry of Counter Narcotics looking for opium. Here in Badakhshan, the Taliban aren't much of a problem. The real issue is the business that has kept Afghans afloat for many years. For a while, NATO eased off pushing against the opium trade, feeling that the enemies it created made it even harder to fight the insurgency that was its number one priority. But this year things are different for a reason. The price of the drug has tripled, making it highly possible the harvest will flood record profits into the country, according to the United Nations Office of Drug Control here.