That being the situation, one has to seek the underlying motives by inference. The following points merit consideration. Drought for three consecutive years has dried up Afghanistan. Parched lands do not admit of cultivation. More than a million people face death by starvation.
Survival is precarious in that country even in the best of times.
The present is the worst of times. The sanctions calculated to strong-arm the Taliban into giving up bin Laden have tightened further the squeeze on the common Afghans. With Afghanistan's current extremist rulers imposing their foggy and fanatic beliefs on women, system of education, and providing a sanctuary to Osama bin Laden, few donors are willing to come forward with emergency aid. The rural warrior-clerics of Taliban are perplexed over the lack of international enthusiasm and welcome to their crackdown on the heroin trade. Taking the above points into consideration, one is led to believe that Mullah Umar's edict might have been calculated to divert the attention of the frustrated, illiterate people from the unpleasant realities to the mute statutes.