Some news from Afghanistan:
This link is about the Herat Province which borders Iran:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6606535.stm
These two are from Helmand and talk about Operation Silicon which seems to be doing very well:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6607211.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6606541.stm
Seems like the Taliban are trying to take control of the Poppies industry for funding themselves as it seems these two areas are seeing heavy fighting. It's just an assumption, but seeing as whatever the drug that is made from Poppies is one of their top exports, it would make some sense as to why they might want to keep control of them.