Terrorist group's drug trade exposes its criminal core

The al-Qaeda network finances its global operations through a web of illegal activities and organized crime.

Drug trafficking, kidnapping, arms smuggling, extortion, and violence are among its main methods of generating money to sustain terror operations.

The group's criminal behavior proves that the group is not religiously motivated but purely a criminal enterprise, analysts said.

Hamza Baloch, a military analyst in Nimroz province, said that al-Qaeda plays a central role in organized crime through its various branches.

"Al-Qaeda does not have a single legal or honorable way to obtain financial resources. All the income of this terrorist network comes from illegal means, using force and crime," told Salaam Times.

Baloch said that al-Qaeda members extort money from local populations under the guise of religion.

"They use intimidation and coercion to force people to pay them, leaving locals with no choice but to hand over their meager earnings to terrorists," he said.

Extortion and illicit fundraising are the group’s primary sources of income, fueling further violence and exploitation, Baloch said.

A United Nations report released in September, highlighted that al-Qaeda and its affiliates in Africa play a central role in drug trafficking to fund terrorism.

The report noted that in West Africa, particularly in Mali and Niger, al-Qaeda relies on arms smuggling, drug trafficking, and kidnapping to generate financial resources.

It also found that al-Qaeda collaborates with international criminal networks, including Latin American cartels and Balkan groups, in the cocaine trade.

The report further revealed that al-Shabaab, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia, funds its operations through kidnapping and extortion, often using informal money exchanges and smuggling intermediaries to conceal financial trails.

Al-Qaeda's hypocrisy

While al-Qaeda claims to operate under Islamic values, religious scholars condemn the group as hypocritical and criminal.

Al-Qaeda exploits Islam as a cover for its crimes, said Nazifullah Haqdoost, a religious scholar in Kabul.

"None of al-Qaeda’s activities are related to Islam," he told Salaam Times. "This terrorist group has long committed crimes that are completely rejected from an Islamic perspective. Killing innocent people, stealing their property, and spreading fear and terror are utterly anti-Islamic and inhumane."

"Al-Qaeda is two-faced, publicly presenting itself as an Islamic movement, but its actions are completely un-Islamic. This is the very nature of hypocrisy, and al-Qaeda is a hypocritical and condemned group."

Sibghatullah Khalil, a civil society activist in Herat, echoed the same sentiment, calling al-Qaeda one of the world’s most dangerous criminal organizations.

"For more than four decades, al-Qaeda has justified its inhumane activities through religious teachings. However, as awareness has grown among Muslims, none of the group’s actions are acceptable in Islamic societies anymore."

"Extorting money from the poor and kidnapping people are grave sins in Islam, and those who commit them are despised. Yet al-Qaeda has long funded itself through such criminal means and committed horrific atrocities," Khalil said.