Narco-terrorism is the trafficking in drugs to finance terrorist activities. The classic example of a narco-terrorist is Pablo Escobar, leader of the Medellín cocaine cartel in Colombia, who was killed by a joint U.S.-Colombian secret military force in 1993. Escobar led an eight-year terrorist campaign during which he ordered the assassinations of judges, police officers, journalists, and presidential candidates. He also was responsible for the bombing of a commercial airplane. These terrorist activities were designed to pressure the Colombian government into banning extradition of drug traffickers to the United States.

More recent examples of narco-terrorists are members of the Taliban, the former ruling party of Afghanistan, and al- Qaeda, the Islamic terrorist group led by Osama bin Laden, which was responsible for the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Taliban permitted—and even taxed...