At the same time, the Taliban continue to pursue their original sources of funding. “Analysis of Taliban revenue sources suggests that they remain highly diverse, with various income streams that enable the Taliban to quickly substitute for declining asset streams,” the report said. “Mansour, in his restructuring, gave more autonomy to the local Taliban groups and tasked them with finding more locally driven revenues and securing their funding at the local level,” Mr. Sharan said. He acknowledged that in their areas of control in places like Kunduz and Helmand, the Taliban collected the electricity bills. At first glance, each strand of Taliban revenue might seem insignificant.

Source: New York Times January 28, 2017 16:20 UTC