From: The World Post | A Partnership of the Huffington Post and the Berggruen Institute
Officially, it’s believed that the Taliban has a yearly budget of around 500 million dollars. In private, however, Western and Afghani intelligence agencies admit that the real Taliban budget is closer to between one billion and two billion dollars, with most opting for the higher number. Intelligence sources at the former International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), since replaced by the Resolute Support Mission (RSM), place the number even higher–at more than two billion. Moreover, it is widely believed that the Taliban has stockpiled cash amounting to several billion additional dollars in preparation of a major campaign to seize control of Afghanistan at some point in the future.
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Smuggling, in general, is also a major source of funding for the Taliban. The same networks that can be used to smuggle in arms and munitions, or smuggle out drugs, can be used to smuggle a broad range of goods. Cigarettes, after drugs, are the second most significant item smuggled. Afghanistan imports approximately two billion dollars of Western cigarettes a year, an amount that seems disproportionately high given that only about 20% of inhabitants smoke. In addition, local cigarettes sell for around 30 cents a pack, one-third of the price of Western cigarettes. Western cigarettes cost around a dollar a pack in Afghanistan.
