4 ms·

I think Pakistan and ultimately Russia funds them? I’m not well-versed, it’s only my understanding.

• ggm 5y ago
  Russia funding the Taliban. Ok.. run that playbook again for how the US funded the muj to undermine Russian investments in Afghanistan. Many thousands of young Russian conscripts died in Russia's Vietnam war. It fundamentally undermined the integrity of belief in the USSR and led directly to the end of soviet rule along with Chernobyl. I'm not really sure I can make Russia funding the Taliban work. Do you have any actual evidence because this would be like the CIA funding Al queda, in many ways..
  • zsmi 5y ago
    Not proof a funder per se, but there was this: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/russia-afghanistan-bounties.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/russia-afghan...
    • ggm 5y ago
      I'm insufficiently cynical. All I can say is, this will come back to bite them, if true. Just as US aid for the anti najibulla insurgency fuelled the problems of today.
• fakedang 5y ago
  A lot of Taliban funding comes from Pakistan's ISI, as well as individual elements in Arab countries (prominently Saudi Arabia - wealthy ultra religious folks who might even be distant members of the royal family, but not affiliated to government). Apart from that, the Taliban do have the drug trade to keep them afloat. There are a few enough Russians in Afghanistan, but afaik, the Taliban are mostly ambivalent to them now. The Taliban mostly targets 3 types of folks - US and NATO people, Afghan government people, and open allies of the Afghan government (countries like India). Uzbekistan and Iran maintain very tight borders with Afghanistan so that the fighting doesn't spill over. For a very interesting tidbit, even very recently, Taliban was fighting ISIS near Badakhshan and Nuristan.