Al-Qaeda is at its poorest but the Taliban is well-funded:

The US Treasury reports that al-Qaeda is ‘in its worst financial state for many years while the Taliban’s funding is flourishing.’ According to David Cohen, a terrorist financing official, al-Qaeda ‘had made several appeals for funds already this year.’ Cohen adds that ‘the al-Qaeda leadership has already warned that a lack of funds was hurting the group’s recruitment and training efforts.’ “We assess that al-Qaeda is in its weakest financial condition in several years and that, as a result, its influence is waning,” Cohen said.

It seems that the US strategy to choke all funding routes to al-Qaeda has been effective.

On the other hand, Afghanistan’s ever-booming opium trade has been assuring the Taliban of financial stability. It is said that the Taliban exacts no less than 10% tax from Afghan poppy farmers. Also, Afghanistan is the world’s largest exporter of heroin, which is sourced from opium.

According to Richard Holbrooke, the US Special Envoy to Afghanistan, ‘the Taliban get most of their funding from private benefactors in the Gulf,’ which makes the Taliban one of the most well-funded militant insurgencies in the world today.

However, it would only take al-Qaeda’s ‘multiple donors’ who were ready, willing and able to contribute’ to pump money into the terrorist group once again, and the group will be back in its original fighting form.