Posted on 10/12/2009 2:45:42 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON – The Taliban are in much stronger financial shape than al-Qaida and rely on a wide range of criminal activities to pay for attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, a senior Treasury Department official said Monday.
David Cohen, the department's assistant secretary for terrorist financing, said the extremist group extorts money from poppy farmers and heroin traffickers involved in Afghanistan's booming drug trade. The Taliban also demand protection payments from legitimate Afghan businesses, he said during a speech at a conference on money laundering enforcement.
...
According to Cohen, al-Qaida is a cash-strapped organization that is losing its clout. That condition is the product, he said, of a long-running effort by the U.S. and its allies to cut off the terror group's sources of funding by targeting its deep-pocketed donors and interfering with its ability to move money.
In the first half of 2009, he said, al-Qaida's leaders made four public appeals for money to bolster recruitment and training.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Not too surprised, we managed to squeeze al-Qaeda pretty darn dry. Now these Tallieboys are the next big money terror base that needs to be addressed (not that Bummer will do anything intelligent about it).
Well duh!! After all their share of the stimulus package was much greater and they leveraged some of their more risky loan derivatives on unsuspecting investors but hey . . . that’s what it’s all about nowadays with HOPE and CHANGE.
Users should buy coke from Colombia rather than opium from Afghanistan?
Pres_ _ent So-Vain Hussein Obama: "Go Taliban. Go Taliban. Go Taliban.
MY new presidential helicopter will let ME cook a meal while under nuclear attack."
Wait
odumbo wants the Taliban to be part of the gov’t in Afghanastan
I bet he also wants their donations
I guess selling dope is more lucrative than building buildings.
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