Osama bin Laden's presence brings Afghanistan's ruling Taliban a trove of donations from a global network that has helped keep the cash-starved militia in power, intelligence experts say.
While a US attack would be costly for Afghanistan, the ruling Taliban would likely lose an important source of income if it forces bin Laden out.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Bin Laden takes in millions of dollars in contributions from Islamic supporters in the Arab world, which in turn are used partly to fund Afghanistan's leaders, intelligence experts say.
With a personal fortune estimated at US$300 million, bin Laden funds a global network of as many as 3,000 Islamic militants and also supplies highly trained fighters for the Taliban's war against a northern-based opposition alliance.
"[Bin Laden's] been a major economic force, attracting millions, certainly tens of millions of dollars in external support to Afghanistan," said Jonathan Winer, the deputy assistant secretary of state for international enforcement during the Clinton administration.
In one instance, a Taliban commander in Afghanistan said he had taken US$250,000 supplied by bin Laden to Kunduz province to finance the Taliban war effort there.
In another, an airport manager in the eastern city of Jalalabad said that bin Laden operatives arrived toting gym bags and briefcases full of cash. The men carried cards from the Taliban leadership ordering officials to give them safe passage, said the manager, who goes by the single name Abdullah.
The fighters bin Laden controls have spread across the globe to support Islamic rebellions from Chechnya to Albania to the Philippines, and supporters of those struggles have funneled money back to him.
"That pan-Islamic military support has caused people who support that kind of action to contribute money to bin Laden, which in turn flow to the Taliban in part," Winer said.
Like a landlord reluctantly moving to oust a valuable tenant, Taliban leaders urged bin Laden on Thursday to voluntarily leave the country. President George W. Bush immediately rejected that, ordering the Taliban to turn him over.
Still, if they allow him to remain, it could mean a US attack -- one that might oust them from power.
"The Taliban leadership are beginning to see him as more of a liability than as an asset," said Peter Chalk, an analyst specializing in terrorism and national security for Rand Corp based in Washington.
"He continues to pay rent and his lease hasn't expired," said Frank Cilluffo, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
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