*WASHINGTON- Officials from the United States Central Intelligence Agency(CIA) and US Finance Department have said that the Taliban’s financialresources must be cut off as the group is using income from drug smugglingto impose pain and suffering in the world.*
CIA Director Mike Pompeo said at an event at the American EnterpriseInstitute that the war on terror is one of the US’s top priorities thisyear.
“I will list the Taliban as well who uses drug revenue to foment so muchpain on the world,” Pompeo said. “We have bolstered our capacity. There arecollection capacity. We have done that jointly with Treasury Department,with Secretary (Steven) Mnuchin and his team, working together to take thetrade craft that we have historically used against networks that look verymuch like financial networks and apply them against those very samenetworks.”
The CIA director meanwhile said al-Qaeda is still a threat, but he saidWashington is committed to fighting the network and other terrorist groups.
“We have an obligation to do everything we can to operate in a way thatengenders the American people’s trust so that those powers and authoritiesremain in place. If we don’t, if we behave in ways that are lawless, if webehave in ways that you might see in the movies, then the American peoplewould rightfully take those powers, that authority, that capacity away fromus, that would be unforgivable for agent to find in that place. What we dois simply too important,” he stated.
At the same event, Rose Gottemoeller, Deputy Secretary General of NATO,said they will not let Afghanistan to become a safe haven for terroristsonce again.
“Our experience in Afghanistan has taught us that training local forces isone of our best weapons in the fight against terrorism. That is a challengethat affects us all. And if we are training local forces, then they beginto provide for their own security and they begin to take up the fightagainst terrorism. Thus, we are adding 3,000 more trainers to our ResoluteSupport Mission in Afghanistan,” she said. “We are there to train, adviseand assist the Afghans so that they can best provide for their own securityand to prevent that country from ever again becoming a safe haven forterrorists.”
The CIA director’s remarks came shortly before reports emerged of the deathof Nasir Mahmoud, known as Ehsan Khawari, a Haqqani network leader’s deathin a US drone strike in North Waziristan in Pakistan.
The drone strike was conducted in Spin Atal area along the border betweenKurram Agency and Orakzai Agency on Wednesday morning.
The remarks also came shortly after the Taliban announced a group of itsmembers met with Pakistani officials in Islamabad recently to discuss waysto end the crisis in Afghanistan. The claim was made in a statement issuedby the Taliban.