Taliban strengthens ties with organized crime: UN. Report

The United Nation in a report said that Taliban are increasing their dealings with narcotics traffickers, illegal mining rings, and kidnappers for ransom, which would raise serious concerns for Afghanistan.

“They are increasingly acting more like ‘godfathers’ than a ‘government in waiting,’ ” a report by the U.N. panel of experts on the Taliban said.

Hostage-taking incidents by the Taliban have increased since 2005, and a total of at least $16 million has been paid in ransom money, according to the report.

“The scale and depth of this cooperation is new, and builds on decades of interaction between the Taliban and others involved in criminal behavior,” said the report.

In addition, the Taliban earn $240,000-$360,000 per year in extortion from truckers who carry the semiprecious stone away from the mines located in a predominantly Tajik-populated area.

The report suggested that the United Nations Security Council could use targeted sanctions to take aim at the Taliban’s criminal connections.

The experts argued that the Taliban’s strengthened ties with organized crime will make it more difficult to foster reconciliation as the movement now has little economic incentive to make peace.

“This is all the more reason to intensify efforts to use the Security Council sanctions regime to expose and disrupt Taliban involvement in, and links to, criminal activity,” said the report.

The Taliban were criticized for their strictness toward those who disobeyed their imposed rules. Many Muslims complained that most Taliban rules had no basis in the Quran or Sharia.
Reported by Fahim Noori