Word: mohaqiq
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Dates: during 2001-2001
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...days the city celebrated its liberation, but soon the victorious commanders zeroed in on the spoils. While Dostum, an Uzbek, held court at his Kalai Jangi fortress to the southeast, Tajik leader Atta Mohammed and Hazara chief Haji Mohammed Mohaqiq set themselves up in palatial villas in their own quarters of the city. In public all three insist their convenient alliance is holding as they empty Mazar of armed men and set up a joint security force...
...night tells a different story. Once the sun sets, residents scurry inside their high-walled houses as gunfire resounds across the city until dawn. Few people venture out of their neighborhoods, divided into Atta, Dostum and Mohaqiq ghettos. Two men were killed one night when a patrol of Atta's soldiers clashed with a group of Mohaqiq's men stealing a car. The same night Hazaras hijacked a taxi and beat up the driver. "It's just like it was before the Taliban were here," said the injured...
...Three commanders of different ethnic backgrounds have taken Mazar, and they are the city's key players for the foreseeable future. Two of the commanders, Ustad Mohammed Atta (of Tajik descent) and Haji Mohammed Mohaqiq (a member of the Hazara tribe), set themselves up in palatial villas in the city center. General Rashid Dostum, an Uzbek, took over Kalai Jangi, an ancient mud-walled fortress to the southwest. In public, all three insist an alliance born of necessity is holding. They say they are cooperating in the primary task of emptying Mazar of armed men and establishing a joint security...
...Mazar aren't exactly safe; residents lock themselves in high-walled homes and the pop and crack of gunfire sounds across the city until dawn. Even in daytime, people tend to remain within their neighborhoods, which are lumped into three zones under the control of Dostum, Atta or Mohaqiq. The Hazaras catch most of the blame for the city's violence. In fact, they have most cause for revenge: when the Taliban took the city in 1998 they singled out Hazaras, who are Shi'ite Muslims (the Taliban are Sunnis) and massacred 6,000. The Hazara district in the north...
...euphoria of victory fades, it's becoming clear that some commanders are more equal than others. While Mohaqiq spends his days sitting by his satellite phone swatting away the occasional autumn fly in an empty meeting room, Atta's home is crowded with tribal elders and local dignitaries paying respects and requesting his signature on a flurry of papers. In turn, both Atta and Mohaqiq are required to drive out of the city to Dostum's fort when the veteran warlord summons them. (Dostum also maintains a castle-like complex in Shiburghan, some two hours west of Mazar.) And while...