The Taliban, Al Qaeda, the Global Drug Trade, and Afghanistan as a Dominant Opium Source

It has been claimed that during the past twenty-five years the opium trade has provided a vast source of funding to the Afghan Mujahideen, the Taliban, and possibly Al Qaeda. Today drug revenue empowers local and regional warlords and provides revenue for their personal militias. The extent to which it also empowers Al Qaeda and other like groups still remains an open question. This is despite the fact that the United States has achieved successful military intervention in Afghanistan for several recent past years. Because there is a general contention throughout much of the multinational organized crime and international terrorism literature that such connections are commonplace, it is important to validate such assertions are indeed a matter of material fact or are instead more the product of mere speculation. This article is an attempt to explore the relationship between the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and the opium trade in the Golden Crescent region of the Middle East