You hear a lot about how the drug trade “destabilises” states and governments without ever really getting a more in depth explanation than that.

Well, here is a pretty concrete example of how that can happen.

Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, they have been largely destroyed and forced to retreat to teh mountains and souther area of the country. Despite having formerly been one of the most stringently and successfully anti-drug governments in the world, the organisation has now found itself under seige strapped for cash due to the efforts associated with the War on Terror.

It is in times like these that the temptation to find other sources of funding comes to the fore. And so it is that the Taliban now find themseleves profitting from and encouraging the trade that they formerly banned. Nowadays, cash is again not much of an issue for the Taliban.

Conversely the legitimate government in Kabul is finding it hard to make ends meet with the dismal tax intake and foreign aid. So much so that the fighters of the Afghan National Army are only paid $4 per day.

The Taliban offers their fighters $12 per day.

And so terrorism meets market demand meets drug money.

Official government fighters are now abandoning their posts for the lucrative offers of the Taliban militia. Considering that these forces are directly opposed and often meet in the field, the drain of well trained troops to the Taliban is a major problem for the internationally recognised government. Now they find themselves in teh position of training and equipping soldiers who will ultimately end up fighting for their destruction.

And we have drug financing to thank for that one.