Word: militiaization
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...various factions of the Northern Alliance have recaptured their traditional northern and western hometowns, and they've reportedly already divided Kabul into separate zones for each of its component ethnic militia that march separately but fight together. In the south, the Taliban appear to have been driven out of their last urban strongholds in Kandahar and Jalalabad, headed, no doubt, for the hills where they'll hope to reprise the mujahedeen guerrilla tradition. But reports suggest much of the post-Taliban south is now being carved up among various local Pashtun commanders. Fighters loyal to Arif Khan, a local tribal...
...Taliban no longer rule Afghanistan. But neither the fundamentalist militia, nor their Al Qaeda guests, have yet been beaten. Rather than put up a fight to hold onto the capital, Taliban forces retreated from Kabul overnight Monday, and by Tuesday morning a Northern Alliance advanced guard had entered the city. Initial reports suggested the Alliance had simply sent in a policing force to prevent an outbreak of chaos in the vacuum left by the Taliban's departure - Washington has repeatedly urged the Alliance to keep its forces out of Kabul, to avoid antagonizing the Pashtun Afghans who predominate...
...Alliance has its own elite corps deployed near Kabul. Visiting Western journalists often portray the Alliance's militia of part-time, agrarian soldiers as representative of the rebel force as a whole. But that picture is misleading. A zarbati, or strike unit, of some 1,200 uniformed, well-trained fighters is massed north of the capital. The best of the bunch, the Guards Brigade, was created by the late mujahedin commander Ahmed Shah Massoud--even in death the spiritual leader of the Northern Alliance--and comprises several infantry assault battalions backed up by Russian T-55 and T-62 tanks...
...course Laxer is right to observe that executions are savage, that some militia members are paranoid menaces and that many burger-munchers are metamorphosing into disgusting human gastropods. But pointing out these follies is a bit like hunting cows with an assault rifle. No one, including most educated Americans, thinks serious gun-nuts are more than a negligible fringe, and in 2001, it’s an awful waste of breath to treat them as if the sanity of their position were an open question. Isn’t this just stating the obvious? Yanks tend to be very...
...course Laxer is right to observe that executions are savage, that some militia members are paranoid menaces and that many burger-munchers are metamorphosing into disgusting human gastropods. But pointing out these follies is a bit like hunting cows with an assault rifle. No one, including most educated Americans, thinks serious gun-nuts are more than a negligible fringe and in 2001, it’s an awful waste of breath to treat them as if the sanity of their position were an open question. Isn’t this just stating the obvious? Yanks tend to be very...