Armed conflict requires funding sources without which it cannot sustain. One of the main reasons for the protraction of the war in Afghanistan is the failure of Afghan government and the international community to cut off the financial resources of anti-government rebels, particularly the Taliban. Though the US-led Western coalition is well aware of the Taliban’s funding sources, it has clamped down just on opium processing factories, and that has also happened only over the last two years. Due to the negligence of the international community, the Taliban have diversified and expanded their revenue stream more than ever. More importantly, the Taliban have found access to new, major resources in Afghanistan. Besides foreign aid mostly provided by Pakistan, the Taliban now have abundant domestic resources of revenue across the country. In addition to the narco-profits, they get a colossal amount of money from mining and construction firms and customs. In some parts, even the electricity bills are paid to the Taliban instead of the government.
Although funds are a prerequisite to continue a war, the United States and its allies did not pay enough attention to drying up the Taliban’s finances. Not only did they fail to crack down on Taliban’s foreign revenue stream, but also could not dry up their internal funding sources.
The disruption of Taliban’s financial networks is key priority unfortunately now fallen off the radar. Unfettered and easy access to plentiful financial and human resources has assured the Taliban of their military victory. They know their funding sources are not dried up, and it is not difficult to recruit fighters in a society with high unemployment rate such as Afghanistan, so why they should not continue fighting the war until their military victory. Afghan government and its international allies need to systematically work on mechanisms to stop the funding of the insurgency, and restrict their access to the sources at their disposal now. Otherwise, even if a peace agreement is reached with the Taliban and other militant groups continue to have easy access to financial and human resources, Afghanistan will not become a stable country.
