NAQIL — Lashes swished and whirled through the air in a burst of celebration around a sea of opium poppies, as farmers in a southern Afghan village rejoiced over a bumper harvest with a traditional rope game.Hundreds of farm labourers from across the Pashtun heartland, many of them Taliban, congregated last month in Naqil in Uruzgan province for the most lucrative time of the year — the poppy harvest.After labouring all day in the torpid heat, extracting milky opium resin from swollen green pods, they broke into revelry around the bountiful farms.Hands tethered to long ropes, men lunged forward and back within a chalk circle, kicking up dust and knocking down opponents with heavy lash strokes.Hissing and hooting, a crowd of turbaned spectators gathered around to watch the bare-knuckle game known colloquially as "dora".A tricycle cart pulled up nearby, selling ice cream drizzled with raspberry sauce, lending a carnival atmosphere to the harvest that is expected to bring record opium ...
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