Washington:
Al Qaida, though not bankrupt, is now in the worst financial shape in years, while Taliban is not experiencing much financial stress, a top Obama Administration official handling terror financial has said.
"First and foremost, there is Al Qaida, which is now in the worst financial shape it has been in for years. But Al Qaida is not disabled, nor is it bankrupt, and our progress in degrading its financial strength will not be lasting without continued, vigorous efforts," said David C Cohen, Assistant Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
Reacting to the financial state of Al Qaida core, he said Al Qaida affiliates in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula have come to rely less on support from the Al Qaida network as they plan and mount terrorist attacks.
"These Al Qaida affiliates instead have taken up independent fund-raising activities to sustain themselves - including drug trafficking, kidnapping for ransom and extortion," Cohen said while addressing at Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think-tank.
Unlike Al Qaida, the Taliban has not been experiencing much financial stress, and it has sufficient resources to sustain its recruiting and training infrastructure, conduct devastating attacks on Afghan civilians and present substantial resistance to our troops, Cohen said.
"Working with the Afghan government, we have achieved some key successes against the Taliban's finances, and we are confident that there are many more successes to come. The Taliban still has the funding necessary to fundamentally challenge our core national security objective of bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan," he said.
He noted that the ability of any of these terrorist organisations to function -- including their ability to raise, move and expend funds in support of their violent activities - represents a clear threat to the US national security.
"We are hard at work combating this activity. But make no mistake: Our success depends in significant part on the extent to which we are able to engage our international partners in a cooperative effort to combat terrorist financing," he said.
"First and foremost, there is Al Qaida, which is now in the worst financial shape it has been in for years. But Al Qaida is not disabled, nor is it bankrupt, and our progress in degrading its financial strength will not be lasting without continued, vigorous efforts," said David C Cohen, Assistant Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
Reacting to the financial state of Al Qaida core, he said Al Qaida affiliates in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula have come to rely less on support from the Al Qaida network as they plan and mount terrorist attacks.
"These Al Qaida affiliates instead have taken up independent fund-raising activities to sustain themselves - including drug trafficking, kidnapping for ransom and extortion," Cohen said while addressing at Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think-tank.
Unlike Al Qaida, the Taliban has not been experiencing much financial stress, and it has sufficient resources to sustain its recruiting and training infrastructure, conduct devastating attacks on Afghan civilians and present substantial resistance to our troops, Cohen said.
"Working with the Afghan government, we have achieved some key successes against the Taliban's finances, and we are confident that there are many more successes to come. The Taliban still has the funding necessary to fundamentally challenge our core national security objective of bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan," he said.
He noted that the ability of any of these terrorist organisations to function -- including their ability to raise, move and expend funds in support of their violent activities - represents a clear threat to the US national security.
"We are hard at work combating this activity. But make no mistake: Our success depends in significant part on the extent to which we are able to engage our international partners in a cooperative effort to combat terrorist financing," he said.
