The report, written by researcher and journalist Lynne O’Donnell, cautions that the Taliban’s growing financial power could “put it beyond pressure to comply with obligations to cut ties with and other terrorist groups.” Mullah Yaqoob’s “aim is to achieve independence for the Afghan Taliban, that is, to exploit earning potential in regions under his military control to enable him to operate without the need of outside financial, political, or military support,” the report says. Members of the Taliban delegation attend the opening session of Afghan peace talks in the Qatari capital, Doha, on September 12. The young Yaqoob, the son of the late Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, is also seeking to take over the leadership of the extremist group, the report says. The Taliban’s growing monetary prowess has been overseen by Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the new and ambitious military chief who has taken over the group’s financing. The Taliban has expanded its financial power in recent years through increased profits from the illicit drug trade, illegal mining, and exports, the report says, estimating that the group earned a staggering $1.6 billion in its last financial year (ending in March 2020). “It also, arguably, provides insurance for the Taliban’s continued relationship with other listed terrorist groups, including. “That financial independence enables the Afghan Taliban to self-fund its insurgency without the need for support from governments or citizens of other countries,” says the report, based on interviews with senior Taliban operatives, Afghan officials, and foreign experts. The Taliban “has achieved, or is close to achieving, financial and military independence,” a scenario that could allow the Sunni extremist group to renege on key commitments it has made under a U.S.-brokered peace plan aimed at ending the 19-year war, the report warns. The Taliban's burgeoning financial might could make the militant group immune to pressure from the international community as it negotiates a role in postwar Afghanistan, according to a confidential report commissioned by NATO and obtained by RFE/RL.
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