The fact that the Taliban were able to overrun Afghanistan within a few weeks is not only due to their military strength and the reputation of ruthlessness that precedes them.

It is also because of the stupid money.

And maybe to Mullah Yaqoob, who must have worried the Taliban.

Patrick Bernau

Responsible editor for economics and "Money & More" of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

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Much is uncertain; precise information about the Taliban is difficult to come by in the West.

The main sources on the economic situation of the Taliban are a public report by the United Nations, which is not least based on Western intelligence information, and a secret report to NATO, the main statements of which have become public.

This report warned in autumn last year that the Taliban's growing financial strength was making it more dangerous.

They are now financially independent, even without the support of foreign citizens and governments, they now have enough money.

And that was apparently not least the work of Mullah Yaqoob.

Two other sources of money for the Taliban

Yaqoob was born in 1990, he is the eldest son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar. After his death, Yaqoob would have liked to succeed him as boss, but could not assert himself. Instead, he set up a finance commission to improve his position within the Taliban and to provide the organization with money. He did that in a way that doesn't really fit into a religious terrorist organization.

It is said that Yaqoob's father did not even have proper bookkeeping; The principle behind the Taliban's finance ministry was that Omar accumulated cash and spent it again. Some of the money came as a gift from other countries, be it from private individuals or governments, from Pakistan and Iran, but also from some Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Part of it came from growing opium poppies and selling heroin and crystal meth, and part was ransom for kidnapped citizens of other countries.

That apparently changed with Yaqoob. He turned his attention to two other sources of money that the Taliban were tapping into in the regions they controlled. Firstly, tariffs and taxes: the Taliban levy tithes on farmers and an additional wealth tax. Second, mining: Afghanistan is a country rich in natural resources. Copper ore and coal, gold and precious stones can be found in the mountains. In the future, its rare earths will also become important - natural resources that are important for the electrification of the world. The Afghan deposit of lithium, the metal for modern batteries, could even be the largest in the world.

Mullah Yaqoob apparently arranged for the Taliban to penetrate specifically into those regions where there are lucrative mines.

In June, a UN Security Council report said the Taliban were in control of 280 mining regions in the country, with only 281 under government control (and another 148 controlled by local leaders).

Revenue is estimated to have increased by around 60 percent

"From the point of view of the political scientist, this is a bizarre combination, because criminal activities are combined with quasi-state action," says Markus Kaim, Afghanistan expert at the Science and Politics Foundation.

The so-called “Islamic State” in Syria also functions in a similar way.

Apparently, this practice has brought the Taliban money. In the past few years, it is estimated that they have increased their income by around 60 percent. However, these estimates are not particularly precise. Depending on the source, the Taliban's total revenue is a minimum of $ 300 million and a maximum of $ 1.6 billion a year. Of the $ 1.6 billion, more than $ 400 million is said to come from mining and drug businesses, plus $ 250 million each in donations from abroad and from exports, and another 160 million are taxes.