Title: Drug trafficking organizations - Wikipedia
Headings: Drug trafficking organizations
Drug trafficking organizations
Contents
History
Organization and structure
Structure
Mexican DTOs
Colombian and Dominican DTOs
Asian DTOs
Impact of DTOs
Finance, violence and terrorism
Gang involvement
Combating drug trafficking organizations
Enforcement
Public health
References

Content: In the New York Times, the Finance Minister of the United Front, Wahidullah Sabawoon, declared the Taliban had no annual budget but that they "appeared to spend US$300 million a year, nearly all of it on war." He added that the Taliban had come to increasingly rely on three sources of money: " poppy, the Pakistanis and bin Laden." According to Alfred McCoy, during the Cold War the CIA provided Afghan drug lord allies such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar with transport, arms, and political protection in the fight against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. According to Loretta Napoleoni terrorism later shifted from being mainly state sponsored to gaining financial independence from their sponsors and becoming self-financed. In a CBS news article, the Chief of Operations for the US Drug Enforcement Administration Michael Braun called "groups like the FARC, the Taliban, Hamas and Hezbollah: " hybrids" stating that they are one part terrorist organization, and are becoming one part global drug trafficking cartel." With this new "hybrid" threat, the violence aimed at political impact meets the already violent world of drug trafficking in a perfect storm. These narco-terrorist groups have been linked to car bombings, hostage situations, and mass killings of police and politicians which opposed the operation and could perhaps pose the greatest threat to the US in the future. Gang involvement
Operationally, DTOs rely on street gangs to distribute the product to their customers.