The Taliban of 2021 look very different, on TV news clips, from the Taliban of the late 1990s. For one, the quality of telecast has no doubt improved but so has the visual getup of the Afghan militant outfit.
Their weapons look brand new and shining; their Humvee or Humvee type vehicles are in perfect running order; the clothes they wear look clean and new; their neat coiffure a significant departure from the tousled looks of yore.
All in all, the Taliban of 2021 no longer look the rabid; ragged; dishevelled militia they used to be on grainy shaking visuals, caning and executing women (and men), during their barbaric rule over Afghanistan.
Now, they look a disciplined legion of well-fed, well-to-do fighters on a mission to take over the governance of country. And why wouldn't they look smug and self-satisfied? Their organisation is flush with funds as everyone knows nothing spells success better than a thick fat wallet.
So how much is the Taliban worth, and where does their money come from?
In 2016, Forbes listed Taliban as the fifth richest of the 10 'Terrorist' organisations that they had featured. ISIS had a turnover then of 2 billion USD and was top dog, Taliban at number five had a modest annual turnover of $400 million.
Forbes listed Taliban's primary sources of revenue as drug trafficking, protection money and donations, and this was 2016 when it was not even the dominant force in Afghanistan.
According to a NATO confidential report accessed by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty the annual budget of the Taliban in financial year 2019-20 had been $1.6 Billion, a 400 per cent increase in four years when compared to the Forbes figures of 2016.
RFE/RF gave a breakdown of the revenues listing the different heads under which the Taliban earned their dollars.
Mining: $464 million
Drugs: $416 million
Foreign Donations: $240 million
Export: $240 million
Taxes: $160 million (Protection/Extortion money?)
Real Estate: $80 million
The confidential NATO report highlighted the fact that the Taliban leadership was chasing self-sufficiency in order to become an independent political and military entity.
Over the years the organisation had been reducing its dependency on foreign donations and contributions. In 2017-18 it had reportedly received an estimated $500 million or about half of its total funding then from foreign sources; this had reduced to roughly 15 per cent of their total revenues, by 2020.
In that same fiscal year, the Government of Afghanistan's official budget stood at $5.5 Billion, out of this only less than 2 per cent was for defence. However, the bulk of funding the 'keep Taliban out of Afghanistan project', was taken up by America.
The US, which is in such a hurry now to get out of Afghanistan, spent almost a trillion dollars over 19 years in military expenditure in either directly fighting the Taliban or in training Afghan forces to fight the Taliban.
Now, it seems that the Taliban are the better business venture in Afghanistan getting more bangs out of their buck than the USA.
Looking at it purely from an economic point of view, the Taliban's return on investment (ROI) is getting better by the day; no wonder that they look so pleased with themselves as they quickly fill the gap being left by the dislodging of US and NATO forces; their business is flourishing; the prospect of higher profit almost a reality as Afghanistan readies itself to pay the price of defeat.
Sujay Bhattacharyya, IT
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