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Taliban Funding

WASHINGTON: 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 UN 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.

Despite efforts by the United States and its allies in the last year to cripple the Taliban's financing, using the military and intelligence, American officials acknowledge they barely made a dent.

"I don't believe we can significantly alter their effectiveness by cutting off their money right now," said Representative Adam Smith, a Washington State Democrat on the House Intelligence and Armed Services Committees who traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan last month. "I'm not saying we shouldn't try. It's just bigger and more complex than we can effectively stop."

The Taliban's ability to raise money complicates the Obama administration's decision to deploy more US troops to Afghanistan. It is unclear, for example, whether the deployment of 10,000 Marines over the summer to Helmand Province, the heart of the opium production, will have a sustaining impact on the insurgency's cash flow. And American officials are debating whether cracking down on the drug trade will anger farmers dependent on it for their livelihood.

But even if the US and its allies were able to stanch the money flow, it is not clear how much impact it would have. It does not cost much to train, equip and pay for the insurgency in impoverished Afghanistan — fighters typically earn $200 to $500 a month — and to bribe local Afghan security and government officials.

"Their operations are so inexpensive that they can be continued indefinitely even with locally generated resources such as small businesses and donations," said Kenneth Katzman, a Middle East specialist at the Congressional Research Service and a former analyst of the region at the CIA.

American officials say that they have been surprised to learn in recent months that foreign donations, rather than opium, are the single largest source of cash for the Taliban.

"In the past there was a kind of a feeling that the money all came from drugs in Afghanistan," Richard Holbrooke, the administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said in June. "That is simply not true."

Supporting this view, in his August 30 strategic assessment, Gen Stanley McChrystal, the top Nato commander in Afghanistan, voiced skepticism that clamping down on the opium trade would crimp the Taliban's overall finances.

"Eliminating insurgent access to narco-profits — even if possible, and while disruptive — would not destroy their ability to operate so long as other funding sources remained intact," General McChrystal said.

The CIA recently estimated in a classified report that Taliban leaders and their associates had received $106 million in the past year from donors outside Afghanistan, a figure first reported last month by the Washington Post. Private citizens from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran and some Persian Gulf nations are the largest individual contributors, an American counterterrorism official said.

Top American intelligence officials and diplomats say there is no evidence so far that the governments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates or other Persian Gulf states are providing direct aid to the Afghan insurgency.

But American intelligence officials say they suspect that Pakistani intelligence operatives continue to give some financial aid to the Afghan Taliban, a practice the Pakistani government denies.

The United States Treasury Department and the United Nations have for years maintained financial blacklists of those suspected of being donors to the Taliban and al-Qaida. But counterterrorism officials say donors have become savvier about disguising their contributions to avoid detection.

"The sanctions have worked to a certain extent but obviously not to the extent of being able to cut off all funds," said Richard Barrett, a former British intelligence officer now monitoring al-Qaida and the Taliban for the United Nations.

Agreed. Bogus Report. Proof? Classified reports leaking as water..??

Estimated of 70$ Million to 400$ Million... lolss.. who is making these estimates and how? If the estimate was 70-80$million or$ 400-500 million, it might have been believable! But a difference of 500% in estimates!!

Its like saying, the GDP of America is anywhere between 5 trillion to 25 trillion $$$$ according to estimates. lolz

The west and its allies just want to blame their embarrassment at something else...
 
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Is dealing in drugs a greater sin that extortion, kidnapping and smuggling?

Stop thinking they are some sort of "farishtay", they are not and never were.

Reminds me of the story of a fictional character “Danny Khan” who in his journeys meets up an Afghan smuggler who deals in heroine. The Afghan smuggler tells him to wait so that he can offer his prayers.

Danny is surprised and comments, “you are saying prayers? Although you are involved in heroine smuggling?”

To which the Afghan becomes really upset and comments “do you think I should give up praying to Allah for smuggling? How dare you even suggest that?”

Danny comments silently that if you cant give up praying for smuggling then why don’t you give up smuggling for the sake of praying? But he says (to the reader) he decided not to put this question to visibly agitated Afghan who most probably would’ve shot him in the face for such a “tricky” question beyond the comprehension of the Afghan smuggler.

I also remember another instance (in reality), I once visited Taftan, a Pakistani border town in Balochistan with Iran. I was with few people who were the guests of FC and outside the accommodation we could see some wreckage of vehicles that previously belonged to smugglers who abandoned them after their encounters with the ANF (anti narcotic force). One of the jeeps that aroused my interest had a gear with a transparent head with the word “Allah” inscribed in it.
I couldn’t help but smile, watching which the major commented that religion is very important in this part of the world, business is business but it cant come between god and his believer.

(PS: sorry if it is irrelevant, I thought I had to share it)
 
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Afghanistan closes key Shia route

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:11:23 GMT

Afghan authorities closed the key route that leads from Kurram agency to Afghan Paktia province due to unknown reasons.
Afghanistan has closed a key route for Pakistani Shia populated Kurram tribal region, raising concerns of a 'dire humanitarian crisis' in the Taliban-dominated mountainous valley.

The residents of the Parachinar, upper and lower Kurram agency used to travel for provincial capital Peshawar through Afghan province Paktia and Kandahar since November 2007, when pro-Taliban, Wahhabi militants cut off the areas from the rest of the country, imposing a crippling blockade on the Shia communities in the region.

Dera Ismail Khan and Kurram agency have been witnessing countless incidents of massacres as the pro-Taliban militants have imposed a war against the Shia population that has left thousands of people dead in the past few years.

Some local sources say more than 2,000 Shia community members have been killed in the region since 2007.

A number of Shias maintain that certain rich Arab countries have bankrolled and armed Wahhabi terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and the pro-Taliban elements, even going as far as providing them with heavy weaponry.

Afghanistan closes key Shia route

the people INSIDE Kurram would find this to be a godsend; considering that Afghan refugees and ''refugees'' come in and bring a lot of social problems to the rest of FATA and KP. They steal local jobs too.

So we should close a lot of parts of the border with Afghanistan. However it is true that due to the Thall-Parachinar road blockade, it did cause some shortages of supplies (such as medicines)

as for rich Arab countries funding/supporting extremists in Pakistan --yes it is very much true and well established for several years now. I also am not the biggest fan of the royal dynasties; however i dont think that they are funding the terror groups. What happens essentially is that state funds go into the hands of donours; sometimes those donours' money ends travels further and sometimes makes its way into very ''unfavourable'' elements who then relay the funds to our side of the globe. So we should be very clear and very firm on the financial transactions --and hopefully its something our government will take a stronger position on

it will be interesting to see if the Haqqani brokered 'truce' in Kurram Agency will hold....I happen to hail from this part of the country, I have written extensively about it as well as my take on the ongoing military operations. From what I know, Thall-Parachinar road may be seeing some lasting ''tense calm'' but the fact of the matter is that the road has been largely cleared of miscreants.
 
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US Money Ended up in Taliban Hands: Report​

WASHINGTON: US government funds earmarked ostensibly to promote business in Afghanistan have landed in Taliban hands under a dollar 2.16 billion transportation contract, The Washington Post reported late Sunday.

Citing the results of a year-long military-led investigation, the newspaper said US and Afghan efforts to address the problem have been slow, and all eight of the trucking firms involved remain on US payroll.

Moreover, the Pentagon extended the contract for six months last March, the report said.

The investigation found “documented, credible evidence … of involvement in a criminal enterprise or support for the enemy” by four of the eight prime contractors, the paper noted.

According to The Post, investigators followed a dollar 7.4 million payment to one of the eight companies, which in turn paid a subcontractor, which hired other subcontractors to supply trucks.

The trucking subcontractors then made deposits into an Afghan National Police commander’s account, already swollen with payments from other subcontractors, in exchange for guarantees of safe passage for the convoys, the report said.

Intelligence officials then traced dollar 3.3 million, withdrawn in 27 transactions from the commander’s account, that was transferred to insurgents in the form of weapons, explosives and cash, the paper said.

“This goes beyond our comprehension,” The Post quoted Representative John Tierney as saying.

Tierney, a Democrat, was chairman of a House oversight subcommittee that charged that the military was, in effect, supporting a vast protection racket that paid insurgents and corrupt middlemen to ensure safe passage of the truck convoys that move US military supplies across Afghanistan, the paper said.


US money ended up in Taliban hands: report | World | DAWN.COM
 
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Guys, can anyone help me coming across any credible stuff that establishes a funding link between the KSA Royal Family & the Tehrik e Taliban e Pakistan.

I shall be indebted.
 
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Below is a dated piece but reflects the fact that the Saudi funding for Islamist terror in Pakistan

Wikileaks Reveals Tensions Between Pakistan, Saudis

By Farhan Bokhari

The U.S. appears to have made little headway in seeking closer cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to block wealthy Saudi sympathizers from funding Islamic conservatives in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, senior Western and Arab diplomats have told CBS News after carefully examining some of the State Department documents revealed on WikiLeaks.

Pieced together, the leaked documents for the first time show evidence of underlying tensions between Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari's regime and the ruling Saudi establishment of King Abdullah.

One of the documents released by WikiLeaks to the media quotes the King saying that Pakistan can never progress as long as Zardari remains the country's president — an especially disparaging remark by the Saudi monarch towards Pakistan's head of state.

The friction, according to one U.S. official who spoke to CBS News on background, "has revealed the many challenges in seeking" closer Saudi-Pakistan cooperation, notably in areas such as the flow of finances from Saudi Arabia to recipients in Pakistan who work as fronts for Islamic zealots linked to the Taliban.

"The tension in the Saudi-Pakistan relationship must be cause for concern to the U.S. Much time and effort has been spent in making this (Saudi-Pakistan) relationship work better, but the results are not very encouraging," said a Western ambassador in Islamabad who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity.

Elaborating on American interest in making the Saudis and Pakistanis establish a close working relationship, the ambassador revealed that for the past three to five years, the U.S. has worked behind the scenes to block the flow of Saudi funds to Islamic outlets in Pakistan, "but in Washington, I believe this effort is still not seen to have borne fruit."

Historically, Saudi Arabia stepped up its support to Islamic zealots in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the 1980s, seeking to push "jihad," or holy war — a term used to define the Afghan-based armed resistance opposing the occupying Soviet forces. During this time, a large number of Islamic hardliners (including Osama bin Laden) traveled from countries like Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan to join the resistance.

That effort helped Saudi Arabia consolidate its long-term contacts in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region with Sunni Muslims who supported the Wahabi brand of Islam that is practiced across the oil rich desert kingdom. Historically, for most Pakistanis Islam has made inroads into countries of South Asia through the more conciliatory Sufi tradition of Islam (which stands in sharp contrast to the more rigid interpretation of Islam by Wahabi Muslims).

A week after the WikiLeaks revelations of King Abdullah's remarks, a politician from Pakistan's ruling party (known as the Pakistan People's Party, or PPP, led by Zardari) told CBS News that the relationship between the two countries had "become lukewarm."

Speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to discuss the subject with journalists, the politician claimed that Zardari had worked systematically to curb the influence of Wahabi clergy over officials in his ruling structure — a position that may have irked the Saudi establishment.

"Once the Saudis thought that the Pakistani government wanted to curb the influence of the Wahabis in the ruling structure, they pulled back from any significant support to Pakistan," said the official.

Last month, the president of a privately-owned Pakistani bank in the southern port city of Karachi told CBS News that authorities had tightened their watch on large incoming transfers in foreign currencies from the Middle East to recipients in Pakistan, mainly to block funds for the Taliban and their sympathizers.

"To make certain that any large-scale movement of funds for suspected terrorism-related purposes does not go unnoticed, we try to keep a close watch," said the bank president in a background briefing to a small group of news organizations, including CBS.

But the Western ambassador who spoke to CBS News in Islamabad said efforts such as the ones claimed by the private bank's president "are still not strong enough to make a difference to the funds going to people with militancy-related links.

"Eventually, you have to close the tap. The tap is with the Saudis, and they don't seem interested in closing it off."


CBS News' Farhan Bokhari reported from Islamabad.
 
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Why would anyone bring Indian Muslims here? There oblivious! They watch Rajnikant movies all day and it's ludicrous to expect them to do something on this scale :P
 
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Truth be told there is funding coming from Saudi Arabia. Yes but it is not intentional as the world trying to make you believe.

We hate terrorists as much as you do but there are terrorist fund raisers who use campaigns for Orphans and Handicapped people and poor families and a lot of Saudis just give the money thinking it is going to support Orphans come to our surprise a week later it is released it was a bogus campaign and the money already went but the people responsible arrested.

And the thing that irks me the most is that Saudi Haters do their best to spread hate by saying that the funding is coming all calculated and it is intentional by the people just for evil wants of Saudis. I stopped giving money to charities and only go to charities I can trust now. But there will remain more idiot Saudis who will give money to any charity just because the brochure looks so sad.
 
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Saudi has one of the best banking sectors when it comes to automation and online trading.
As per Saudi Law, enough investment has been made and very strict measures have been taken
for fraud detection and any money laundering.

Most of the banks follow BASEL II and Sarbanes Oxlay SOX directives.

So, I would request folks here to stop making wild comments from 20 years ago.
 
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Saudi has one of the best banking sectors when it comes to automation and online trading.
As per Saudi Law, enough investment has been made and very strict measures have been taken
for fraud detection and any money laundering.

Most of the banks follow BASEL II and Sarbanes Oxlay SOX directives.

So, I would request folks here to stop making wild comments from 20 years ago.

Look at my signature...
 
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