'Analysts: al-Qaeda Has Funds Despite Economic Woes', The Associated Press, 16 October 2008
EXCERPT: "Al-Qaida, which gets its money from the drug trade in Afghanistan and sympathizers in the oil-rich Gulf states, is likely to escape the effects of the global financial crisis. One reason is that al-Qaida and other Islamic terrorists have been forced to avoid using banks, relying instead on less-efficient ways to move their cash around the world, analysts said. Those methods include hand-carrying money and using informal transfer networks called hawalas. While escaping official scrutiny, those networks also are slower and less efficient — and thus could hamper efforts to finance attacks. The question of where al-Qaida and its sympathizers get their money has long been crucial to efforts to prevent terrorist attacks. A 2004 U.S. investigation found that banks in the United Arab Emirates had unwittingly handled most of the $400,000 spent on the Sept. 11 attacks. After the attacks, the U.S. made an aggressive push to use law enforcement techniques to disrupt terrorist financing networks and worked with allies to improve their own financial and regulatory institutions."
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See also:
'Glance at Islamic terror money', The Associated Press, 16 October 2008
'Al-Qaeda number two killed by US was Swedish', AFP, 16 October 2008
'Taliban may give up al Qaeda, ex-minister says', Reuters India, 15 October 2008
'Is al-Qaeda winning?', BBC World Service, 13 October 2008
Related posts:
'Afghan al-Qaeda commander warns of attacks', 5 September 2008
'Rare interview with al-Qaeda commander broadcasted', 22 July 2008
'Al-Qaeda adds muscle to the Taliban's fight', 18 April 2008
'Al-Qaeda, Afghanistan and the Good War', 28 February 2008
