by Sayed Tariq Majidi
Taliban backers are no longer willing to provide the group with funding citing the high casualty toll, especially of children, as the main reason, a senior member of the insurgent group Mullah Rahmatullah Kakazada told The Guardian.
Kakazada stated that internal disputes within the group regarding the resumption of peace talks with the Afghan government have also discouraged the group's financial sponsors.
Similar statements have been made in the past by other senior Taliban members, a trend that indicates the group is indeed facing serious financial problems. According to them, wounded fighters are even being turned away from private Pakistan hospitals as they are unable to settle their bills.
However, in the past the Taliban has expressed satisfaction over its gains on the battlefield, but now it seems that a surge in casualties among children and women and the willingness of the group to consider peace negotiation talks have dampened the generosity of their financial backers.
"Mullah Mohammad Omar was well-respected and he had reigned over Afghanistan, but funding tangibly declined with the coming of Mullah Akhtar Mansour and internal disputes within the group emerged; this also had an impact on the funding. Today one part of the Taliban is willing to negotiate for peace but another part is insisting on war; but all these disputes have led to financial cuts for the group by Pakistan and Gulf countries," said political commentator Amanullah Hotaki.
But, intelligence reports by the Afghan security institutons indicate that initially funding to the group started dropping following the death of the group's founding leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
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