Word: mahmad
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...Allah Mahmad is an example of the human cement that holds together the opposition Northern Alliance. In other times he would have been a farmer, working in the lush wheat fields and fruit orchards of the Shomali Plain around Bagram. Instead, at 27, he has seen six years of combat. With his high-set cheekbones, goatee, checked shawl and round woolen cap he bears a passing resemblance to Ahmad Shah Massoud, the assassinated commander who assembled these forces. In a conventional army Allah Mahmad would be a captain. Here he's called commander, a hard-earned rank denoting his seniority...
...positions 600 m away. As the sun sets behind the western mountains, we watch the enemy moving behind their lines. Between us lies a wasteland of smashed masonry, burned-out vehicles and many, many unseen mines. "For now we stay in our positions and they in theirs," says Allah Mahmad...
...This former army base next to the Bagram airfield 50 km north of Kabul is a tiny slice of Stalingrad, circa 1942. Beyond the gates there's scarcely a building intact?just broken walls, smashed stonework, and ground littered with spent shell casings and twisted metal. Allah Mahmad exaggerates a bit when he says his men are holding the 40th Division base. For the past two years his platoon has been hanging on to about 100 sq m of ground inside the gate. Two small buildings still have roofs and their dark, fetid rooms serve as living quarters. There...
...since the Taliban first took this terrain north of Kabul in late 1996. Their generals talk of the war on global terrorism but war doesn't get much more local?or personal?than this. "The Taliban has burned our fields, cut down our trees, destroyed our homes," growls Allah Mahmad. "They're making refugees of us, but we're refugees who have not forgotten how to fight...
...Since Oct. 16 limited U.S. bombing has shifted to the zone behind the Taliban lines. Northern Alliance political leaders have expressed a cautious satisfaction. But on the front lines they want more, much more, and they want it now. Staring through binoculars at the headlights cresting the pass, Allah Mahmad can hardly contain his frustration. "If the Americans hit the pass now, they'd cream the bastards," he mutters. "All the bloody terrorists move out of Kabul at night. Hitting the city isn't touching a hair on their heads...