The Taliban are not going to ban the cultivation of opium in Afghanistan, which will lead to the emergence of a narco-state, said French political scientist Olivier Roy.

Roy, who is also the scientific adviser of the Middle East Directions programme at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies in Italy, said: “We find ourselves in the situation we were in the 1990s, with the phenomena of the brutal advance of the Taliban. The reason is simple: the army is not fighting, and the Taliban make agreements with the local authorities.  They will arrive in Kabul, the army will try to resist, in my opinion it will not resist, we are heading towards the fall of Kabul.”