Word: kot
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...story of the war in Afghanistan has focused on the ones who got away, chief among them Osama bin Laden, Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and, according to an Afghan intelligence official, "99% of the hard-core leadership" of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. But if Tirin Kot is any indication, most of the Taliban rank and file are not in hiding. They are back in their hometowns, farming, opening shops in the bazaar or just looking for work. The intelligence official estimates there "could be as many as 10,000, maybe more." Where? "Man, just look around...
...Taliban in town are being monitored by the new local authorities loyal to President Hamid Karzai, and special forces regularly patrol Tirin Kot. Despite some reports of harassment and beatings by the town's police force, Talibs say their return has caused little friction. They are quite open about their Taliban affiliations. Afghan security officials admit they have neither the budget nor the reach to fully investigate these men for abuses during the Taliban period. Sardar Mohammed, head officer of Tirin Kot's district police force, says the Taliban foot soldiers are not a problem. "They surrendered and gave...
...evident among the men in Tirin Kot that not all members of the Taliban were equal in their devotion to the movement. As the Taliban swept across the country in the mid 1990s, the group became an amalgam of true believers and those who sought protection, a salary and food. Many non-Taliban commanders capitulated to the movement rather than fight, in order to retain their power and their men. Among the people of Tirin Kot, there is a binding dedication to Islam but not to the specific brand preached by the Taliban and especially not to the extreme forms...
...doubt some of the talk is sanitized for a Western visitor. (A Talib in Tirin Kot refuses to point out his shop "because you'll tell the special forces.") Less restrained is criticism of the reconstruction effort. Shah says that despite Karzai's promises of new roads, schools, hospitals and a reliable source of power, none of these have been delivered in the Tirin Kot area, nor has work on them even begun. As a state, Afghanistan still has little to offer its people. This, perhaps more than loyalty to the former regime, could nurture existing threats. Almost everyone interviewed...
...case, it would be a mistake to think the hard-core Taliban have completely disappeared. Mullah Omar sightings have been reported in Uruzgan, and his devoted followers are still around. On one of Tirin Kot's two main streets, 15 or so men sit together on the platform outside a tea shop, looking as Taliban are expected to look. The turbans are almost uniformly black or white, as are the shalwar kameezes, the baggy trousers and long shirts that Afghan men favor. Eyes are shadowed with surma, a carbon-based paste, and the stares are unwelcoming if not hostile...