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Afghanistan

Report: Afghan militants have mafia-like financing

2012-08-01

One of the deadliest militant groups in Afghanistan, the Haqqani network, has developed a sophisticated, "mafia"-style financing operation that relies on extortion, kidnapping, smuggling and ties to legitimate businesses, according to a new report by a U.S.-based think tank.

The report by the Combating Terrorism Center in West Point, N.Y., suggests the system has become so lucrative that maintaining it could be as much of a goal for the group as driving foreign forces out of Afghanistan.

That was certainly the case in Colombia: after a while FARC made so much money in protecting drug lords (and being drug lords themselves) that it made more sense to further the business than to promote revolution.

That could complicate U.S. efforts to negotiate an end to the war since much of the network's cash flow is dependent on instability and lawlessness bred by the conflict.

"Life at war has become lucrative - even if highly risky - while an end to the fighting would almost certainly produce a decline in wealth and power," said the report, which was released Tuesday and was based on archival records, documents captured in Afghanistan and interviews with Western, Afghan and Pakistani officials, as well as locals in areas where the Haqqani network operates.

Posted by:tipper

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