Word: militia
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...Hamas keeps its military wing secret, and separate from its other activities. It is believed to number about 500 people, but it is recruiting all the time. But these are recruited as suicide bombers. They are not a militia like Fatah that goes onto the streets with rifles. It's secret. The public face of Hamas is its medical, welfare and educational services it provides for needy Palestinians. Hamas builds its public support running a network of social welfare activities, helping poor families and the families of "martyrs" - young Palestinians killed in action against Israelis. It's doubtful whether President...
Delawar loved his car, a blue Toyota 4x4 that chewed up the unpaved roads around Jalalabad. Two weeks ago a group of bearded men wrapped in shawls pointed their Kalashnikovs at him and demanded the keys. Now he watches every day as armed militia drive his car through Jalalabad, the main city in eastern Afghanistan and the summer residence of the former King. Delawar hasn't reported the incident to the police because there are no police. There is a security chief, a warlord who returned a fortnight ago with his supporters from Pakistan to reclaim the city, bloodlessly, from...
...Foreigners traveling to Jalalabad must stay in his residence. This also costs $100, or more than triple the price of the city's regular hotel. But at least his armed guards aren't shooting each other. Those of commander Hazrat Ali are. He says two families in his militia used their Kalashnikovs to settle a long-standing feud. Two people died. "This is Afghanistan," he explains. "It had nothing to do with the government." It's an apt summary of the depth of the nation's problems...
...Kabul that passes on immediate benefits to the Pashtuns, then the Taliban fighters will dig up their hidden weapons and descend from the mountains, probably in six months time. The U.S. may indeed have "fractured" the Taliban's command and control structure, as the Pentagon claims, but the militia's lower echelons remain intact, along tribal lines. A commander usually recruits from his own village or town, even if the unit ends up fighting in the other corner of the country. Last week, in Spin Boldak, about 60 miles from Kandahar, I met a Taliban named Abadullah, a bright fellow...
...Mazar. There, the Pakistanis tell a uniform tale of deception. Mullahs in Pakistan told them Americans were fighting against brother Muslims in Afghanistan and that it was their duty to join the jihad. "The mullahs cheated us," says Saeed Hanif Mohammed, 60, a member of the fundamentalist Pakistani militia Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. "A lot of people died, but we couldn't care about them--we had to save ourselves." He pauses. "I just want to go home." The Northern Alliance guards say barefoot Mohammed Haji Meer, 55, was one of the Pakistani commanders. "All these people are Muslims," he says...