Spring Onion
PDF VETERAN
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2006
- Messages
- 41,403
- Reaction score
- 19
- Country
- Location
Editorial Funds for the Taliban
US special envoy Richard Holbrooke’s statement in Brussels that the Taliban receive more money from their sympathisers in the Gulf countries than they obtain from the illegal narcotics trade in Afghanistan deserves to be taken note of. As we wrote in these columns in our issue of June 29, 'misguided concepts of philanthropy' contribute in no small measure to the Taliban’s coffers.
Nato officials estimate that the Taliban raise between $60m and $100m a year from the flourishing narcotics trade. This means that the proportion of what the militants get from the drug trade is less than the millions of dollars that pour in from people who may not necessarily have a Taliban bent of mind but who, nevertheless, have a soft corner for them in spite of the brutality that now characterises their philosophy.
Cutting off funding from abroad is a challenge because it is obvious that pro-Taliban elements do not use normal ban- king channels to transfer money, since the remitter could get caught if the remittee is under observation and is known to have links with the militants. Transfers are thus ‘safe’ only when they are made through nonbanking channels like hundi, an informal means of transferring funds. Tackling this is a ticklish job, because not all transfers made by these means necessarily go to the Taliban. Thousands of expatriates send money to their families back home through hundi because this way they evade service charges and get better exchange rates. Similarly, it would be foolish to assume that all money coming to the madressahs from abroad is necessarily meant for the Taliban.
The task is to scrutinise all transactions, as is humanly possible, and nab sympathisers of the terrorists. This, of course, requires coordination with the security agencies in the Gulf countries.
For some mysterious reason, however, while we continue to hear about Taliban funding nobody seems to focus on the sources of arms for the militants. They have money, agreed, but who sells them such sophisticated arms as rocket launchers and landmines and modern electronic communication gadgetry — and why?
DAWN.COM | Provinces | Funds for the Taliban
US special envoy Richard Holbrooke’s statement in Brussels that the Taliban receive more money from their sympathisers in the Gulf countries than they obtain from the illegal narcotics trade in Afghanistan deserves to be taken note of. As we wrote in these columns in our issue of June 29, 'misguided concepts of philanthropy' contribute in no small measure to the Taliban’s coffers.
Nato officials estimate that the Taliban raise between $60m and $100m a year from the flourishing narcotics trade. This means that the proportion of what the militants get from the drug trade is less than the millions of dollars that pour in from people who may not necessarily have a Taliban bent of mind but who, nevertheless, have a soft corner for them in spite of the brutality that now characterises their philosophy.
Cutting off funding from abroad is a challenge because it is obvious that pro-Taliban elements do not use normal ban- king channels to transfer money, since the remitter could get caught if the remittee is under observation and is known to have links with the militants. Transfers are thus ‘safe’ only when they are made through nonbanking channels like hundi, an informal means of transferring funds. Tackling this is a ticklish job, because not all transfers made by these means necessarily go to the Taliban. Thousands of expatriates send money to their families back home through hundi because this way they evade service charges and get better exchange rates. Similarly, it would be foolish to assume that all money coming to the madressahs from abroad is necessarily meant for the Taliban.
The task is to scrutinise all transactions, as is humanly possible, and nab sympathisers of the terrorists. This, of course, requires coordination with the security agencies in the Gulf countries.
For some mysterious reason, however, while we continue to hear about Taliban funding nobody seems to focus on the sources of arms for the militants. They have money, agreed, but who sells them such sophisticated arms as rocket launchers and landmines and modern electronic communication gadgetry — and why?
DAWN.COM | Provinces | Funds for the Taliban
