A senior American Governmnt official says that Al Qaeda is facing a severe financial crisis. The official, David Cohen, who is the Assistant Secretary of State. for Terrorist Financing made these remarks in a speech in Washington. The US Treasury has its own Intelligence wing which is deeply involved in trying to curtail terrorism by choking off its sources of funding. Such efforts, said Mr Cohen has led to Al Qaeda finding itself in a financial predicament , weakened and with waning influence. He said Al Qaeda had been making appeals for funding this year and its leadership has warned that this is hurting the Group's recruitment and training efforts. But he said the Taliban are in much better shape because it is demanding payments from poppy farmers , drug runners and legitimate businesses.