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 in our issue of June 29, 'misguided concepts of philanthropy' contribute in no small measure to the Taliban’s coffers. Full Story »
Posted by Jane C Wylen
For an editorial, this lacks teeth. Based largely on one fact, this wanders to saying 'but, wait that's not the real problem …'
This editorial asks some important questions that I haven't seen asked in the US media. I'd be very curious to learn about where the Taliban is gett their arms, for instance.
Nice article! The many faces of remittances with of course a conundrum for the policy responses and coordination of security and law enforcement mechanisms. The article is short, concise and open many grounds for analysis. "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?"
The article mentions several terms, like hundi, ban-king channel, madressah. It is up to the reader to figure out these terms, e.g. by reading a previous, referenced article. Except for Richard Holbrooke's statement, facts in the article are difficult to verify, and therefore seems more like an opinion.
This article takes a quote from Richard Holbrook to explain how philantrophic money donations can and do end up in the hands of Taliban. This funding source supposedly is larger than proceedings from narcotics production.
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, ... More »
This is good journalism because it provides the reader with little-known but useful information. It expands on the remark by US Envoy Richard Holbrook that the Taliban get more money from people in the Gulf countries than from the illegal narcotics trade by describing how difficult this would be and reminding us that finding the sources of the Talliban's sophisticated arms is just as important.
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