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Although significant efforts have been made by the United States in its attempt to cut off the money supply to the Afghan Taliban, American officials admit: they have barely made a dent. A NYTimes article dwells into the subject and reveals that the Taliban is running a complicated and diversified financial operation. The primary source of funding include donations from abroad and revenues from opium production and trade. American officials are surprised to learn that the former has been a larger source of funds in the recent months as oppose to conventional wisdom that opium finances the Taliban. Even if the United States is successful in cutting off funds, one analyst argues that it might not make much of a difference as the low cost operations can be run with locally generated funds.

There is much to be concerned about in this story. 1. How will this affect the Obama administration’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, 2. How will these revelations change public opinion on possibility of success in Afghanistan? 3. Obama and his aides have already begun using their favorite line of defense as they blamed the Bush administration on Sunday. However this is Obama’s war now. He has said that Afghanistan is a war of necessity. Can he back away now as he is failing to win? Can he simply divert responsibility to the Bush administration?

That would certainly be the cowardly option.