Taliban's Foreign Support Vexes U.S.

By YOCHI J. DREAZEN

WASHINGTON -- U.S. officials recently concluded that the Afghan Taliban may receive as much money from foreign donors as it does from opium sales, potentially hindering the Obama administration's strategy to rehabilitate Afghanistan by stopping the country's drug trade.

Gen. David Petraeus, who oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said in a recent interview that the Taliban has three main sources of funding: drug revenue; payments from legitimate businesses that are secretly owned by the armed group or that pay it kickbacks; and donations from foreign charitable foundations and individuals.

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Reuters

An Afghan man harvests opium in a poppy field in Farah province. The U.S. aims to rehabilitate Afghanistan by halting the country's drug trade.