But is the crackdown working?The businesses whose accounts have been frozen vociferously deny any connection to Osama bin Laden and the al-Qa'ida network No arrests have been made. And in Saudi Arabia where charitable foundations have been allegedly funnelling vast amounts of money to Mr bin Laden for years, the US crackdown has made little headway. The Saudis have refused to allow the FBI access to the charities' books, fearing that the highest levels of the regime may be implicated.A major problem for intelligence agencies is the fact that most of Mr bin Laden's funds come from legal sources. The question that intelligence agents normally ask – where is the money coming from? – has become: Where is it going? This is far more difficult to gauge, especially when the funds wired by the terrorists were usually in amounts of less than $1,000, and passed unnoticed by the banks.This week, officials began focusing on links between the informal "hawala" system and suspect money-laundering operations which have used unregulated bureaux de change in London and elsewhere.The system is based on personal contacts and rarely leaves a paper trail.
But by shutting hawala banks, the West has further angered the Islamic world. One of the affected businesses, Barakat, is Somalia's largest remittance company through which expatriates send money home.. The task must have looked easy. The Taliban are the most oppressive and incompetent government since records began. Afghanistan's large diaspora is well stocked with their enemies, many of whom are rich and thirsty for revenge. The Taliban's conquest of their country remains incomplete: the Northern Alliance clung obstinately to 5 per cent of the country The task must have looked easy. The Taliban are the most oppressive and incompetent government since records began.
Afghanistan's large diaspora is well stocked with their enemies, many of whom are rich and thirsty for revenge. The Taliban's conquest of their country remains incomplete: the Northern Alliance clung obstinately to 5 per cent of the country America was keen to bankroll the Taliban?s successor. But two months into the war, the Northern Alliance has only now, reportedly, seized the strategic city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Its legendary general, Ahmed Shah Masood, was assassinated on 9 September – with him gone there is talk of infighting.
