Word: groening
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...Uruzgan is a longtime Taliban stronghold. "[Taliban leader] Mullah Omar grew up here," says former Dutch battlegroup commander Jelte Groen. "It was the first province to fall to the Taliban in 1994." With its rugged terrain, long history of opium growing, and network of smugglers' trails, Uruzgan "provides a safe haven for drug transport and moving troops," Groen adds. "So it is a very crucial area...
...broadcast messages telling villagers how to protect themselves during the operation, which involved Australian, Dutch, Afghan and British forces. Rietdijk says Spin Ghar uncovered many weapons caches without a single civilian casualty. But Australian SAS sergeant Matthew Locke was shot dead on a reconnaissance mission, and Dutch soldier Ronald Groen was killed by a mine. Rietdijk concedes that giving notice of the operation might have put troops at risk, but says "the advantage of avoiding casualties among civilians was more important." An Australian Defence spokesman declined to comment, but said its operational planning always involves "assessing the risk of civilian...
...Taliban's treatment of civilians is "ruthless," says Rietdijk. Lieutenant Colonel Groen agrees: "The Taliban use very indiscriminate and total violence," he says. "It's a way of getting support. You can buy support, you can convince people, or you can terrorize people into giving you support...
...they do have money from the opium trade - worth around $600 million a year in Uruzgan alone. And they have growing help from foreigners - Muslims from Pakistan, Chechnya, and Uzbekistan. "In the beginning it was just a lot of local fighters who were forced or paid to fight," says Groen. "They would fire the odd round to show they were participating." But these days the ISAF faces "a different Taliban that is obviously better trained, better coordinated and more proficient with their weapons...
...works come from a singular collection amassed by Dutch philatelist Wim van der Bijl and his associate Ronald de Groen. As a stamp dealer participating in international fairs, the Utrecht-based Van der Bijl befriended a North Korean dealer who later switched from stamps to art. On a visit to Pyongyang in early 2003, Van der Bijl's contact offered him some souvenir landscapes from around Asia, but the Dutchman turned them down, expressing interest instead in the propaganda posters he had seen around the city. "But I was told those were not for export," recalls Van der Bijl...