A Second Shot: Inside Afghanistan’s growing drug epidemic

In a hospital in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, a former mujahideen fighter helps drug addicts in a rehabilitation programme.

Afghanistan has one of the world’s highest drug addiction rates. According to the Taliban, there are an estimated four million drug addicts across the country.

Babrak, a former mujahideen fighter, used to be one of them. Now, he is committed to supporting addicts to detox in one of the capital’s under-resourced drug rehabilitation hospitals.

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Since the Taliban took power in 2021, international aid has been withdrawn and public services are on the brink of collapse. Babrak and a handful of medical staff struggle to offer a line of hope as the Taliban’s anti-drug policies are put into action.

A Second Shot is a film by Marcel Mettelsiefen.