Taliban and the Drug Trade

Publication Date: October 2001

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Social conditions

Type:

Abstract:

There is evidence that many terrorist organizations and some rogue regimes pressed for cash rely on the illicit drug trade as a source of income. In the case of Afghanistan, reports indicating that the drug trade is a major source of income for the Taliban have received growing attention. According to some reports, the regime uses poppy-derived income to arm, train and support fundamentalist groups including the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and the Chechen resistance. There have also been allegations of Osama bin Laden's personal involvement in drug trafficking to finance al Qaeda's activities.

U.S. foreign drug policy currently focuses on reducing illicit drug supply to the United States, and only to a lesser extent on denying funding to organized international criminal or terrorist groups. Should the latter objectives receive greater priority, some policy and organizational realignment may be necessary.

Related products are CRS Issue Brief IB88093, Drug Control: International Policy and Options, by Raphael Perl, updated regularly; CRS Report RL31119, Terrorism: Near East Groups and State Sponsors 2001, by Kenneth Katzman, September 10, 2001; and CRS Report RL30588, Afghanistan: Current Issues and U.S. Policy Concerns, by Kenneth Katzman, May 9, 2001. This report will not be updated.