“The Taliban favor these nuts as they do not require cultivation.”
They don’t want to take valuable time away from killing Infidels to have to work at farming. Besides, once they are firmly in control, they will finance their activities by jizya from the Infidels they have subjugated; no need to learn a trade. This may require them to cross into Pakistan and India in order to find the requisite Infidels.
“Nut Jihad: Taliban Makes Millions From Pistachio Farms,” by David Brennan, Newsweek, March 26, 2018:
Heroin production, arms smuggling, kidnappings; the Taliban funds its ongoing war in Afghanistan with a wide range of illegal activities, putting its war-footing fund-raising ahead of any moral, or indeed religious, concerns.
A less obvious, but still lucrative, source of revenue has been brought to light by the Institute For War & Peace Reporting (IWPR): pistachio farming.
An IWPR investigation into Afghanistan’s pistachio forests have found that armed gangs and Taliban fighters control the vast majority of nut production, earning millions of dollars each year, which is then put towards fighting U.S., coalition and Afghan forces….The Taliban favor these nuts as they do not require cultivation.