As for potentially losing out on billions of dollars in foreign aid, Levitt said the Taliban could survive that. The country as a whole, "not so much," he added.
Search Search. Home United States U. VOA Africa Listen live. VOA Newscasts Latest program. The report also highlighted that the Taliban generated substantial revenue through the extortion of aid and development programs funded by foreign governments and the ISAF mission.
In any case, the Taliban leadership seems to be able to get their hands on enough money to give their fighters an attractive salary. In a poor country like Afghanistan, desperate young people will gladly accept a generous and consistent paycheck from an entity that has the money to provide one - even if that entity is a terror group," said Kugelman.
Moreover, the group enjoys the support of some sections of Afghan society, meaning they don't always require vast amounts of money to survive. Experts believe local support, which is also gained through intimidation and physical force, has become crucial to the Taliban's strategy, in particular because the Kabul government is not perceived as legitimate by many locals.
But why has it been so difficult to target these income sources? One reason for this is that the Taliban seem to do such a good job of diversifying their revenue sources that "even if you tackle one, others will remain strong," say experts.
It's a financial system which analyst Olivier describes as a "layered model" made up of a combination of drug money, ideological individual sponsoring, and protection and extortion money which they "tax" on the local population, contractors and other assets in Taliban-controlled areas.
Moreover, given that most of these funding sources are illegal, they are not part of the regular financial system, thus making them very difficult to track. The group receives the money in cash via couriers or through traditional money-transferring systems," said former Taliban employee Mazhdah.
On top of that, cash movement in and out of Afghanistan is subject to few restrictions. Last but not least, there is the issue of corruption - believed to be rampant in Afghanistan - which enhances a system in which money can flow freely, thus undercutting policies meant to undercut the group's funding sources.
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Topics afghanistan taliban. Get our Daily News Capsule Subscribe. Thank you for subscribing to our Daily News Capsule newsletter. Whatsapp Twitter Facebook Linkedin. Sign Up. Edit Profile. As we speak of funds, a certain curiosity about how the Taliban earns its money and keeps filling its coffers has become yet another topic of discussion now.
Taliban fighters on a pick-up truck move around a market area, flocked with local Afghan people at the Kote Sangi area of Kabul on August 17, , after Taliban seized control of the capital following the collapse of the Afghan government.
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