The international press has been focusing far too much attention on Taliban drug profits.
While poppy cultivation is of course a serious problem that needs addressing, there are several sources for Taliban financing, and last week Time ran an excellent article on one that has been almost completely overlooked: protection rackets.
This presents an interesting problem. Some would argue that you pay the protection rackets until you reach a level of development in which formal employment and other opportunities are available. But this will not happen anytime soon in Afghanistan, and in many cases development workers are paying exactly those who are destroying infrastructure and killing teachers, students and others.
The only way out of this particular problem is in improving security. A school is of no use whatsoever if you can't protect it.
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