The Taliban in Afghanistan are running a sophisticated financial network to pay for their insurgent operations, raising hundreds of millions of dollars from the illicit drug trade, kidnappings, extortion and foreign donations that American officials say they are struggling to cut off. In Afghanistan, the Taliban have imposed an elaborate system to tax the cultivation, processing and shipment of opium, as well as other crops like wheat grown in the territory they control, American and Afghan officials say. In the Middle East, Taliban leaders have sent fund-raisers to Arab countries to keep the insurgency's coffers brimming with cash. Estimates of the Taliban's annual revenue vary widely. Proceeds from the illicit drug trade alone range from $70 million to $400 million a year, according to Pentagon and United Nations officials. By diversifying their revenue stream beyond opium, the Taliban are frustrating American and NATO efforts to weaken the insurgency by cutting off its economic lifelines, the officials say.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban have imposed an elaborate system to tax the cultivation, processing and shipment of opium, as well as other crops like wheat grown in the territory they control, American and Afghan officials say. In the Middle East, Taliban leaders have sent fund-raisers to Arab countries to keep the insurgency's coffers brimming with cash.
Estimates of the Taliban's annual revenue vary widely. Proceeds from the illicit drug trade alone range from $70 million to $400 million a year, according to Pentagon and United Nations officials. By diversifying their revenue stream beyond opium, the Taliban are frustrating American and NATO efforts to weaken the insurgency by cutting off its economic lifelines, the officials say.
Fraud investigators ordered Afghan election officials on Monday to deny Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, an outright victory in the country's flawed presidential poll, raising the chances that a prolonged election crisis may result in a run-off. The findings of the United Nations-backed watchdog will fuel an escalating confrontation between Mr Karzai, who is adamant that he won the August 20 vote, and western powers embarrassed by evidence of massive rigging in their ally's favour. The US and its Nato partners are deferring a decision on whether to send more troops to confront the growing Taliban insurgency until the two-month-old dispute is resolved, fearing that the government that emerges will lack legitimacy.
The findings of the United Nations-backed watchdog will fuel an escalating confrontation between Mr Karzai, who is adamant that he won the August 20 vote, and western powers embarrassed by evidence of massive rigging in their ally's favour.
The US and its Nato partners are deferring a decision on whether to send more troops to confront the growing Taliban insurgency until the two-month-old dispute is resolved, fearing that the government that emerges will lack legitimacy.
