Word: omar
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...could follow, to find Mullah Omar's trail through the heart of the country of the Taliban. What I found was that even now, the Taliban leaders have a hold on power there - and they're not likely to surrender Omar anytime soon...
Rais the Baghran, Helmand's most powerful warlord, and a fearsome Taliban commander said to be sheltering Omar, had agreed to surrender and had relinquished some arms. "Shir Mohammed and the Americans did not trust him," Mirwali continued, "So they asked Rais to go inside Baghran." We asked Mirwali if, as intelligence reports and Kandahar commanders say, Rais was hiding Mullah Omar in his Baghran realm. "This issue is unconfirmed," Mirwali said unhurriedly, though Taliban commanders who withdrew from Gereshk went that way. We told him we wanted to go to Baghran. We asked for soldiers. He shook his head...
...another fortified compound we first met the tribal leaders; all vowing Mullah Omar had not been spotted. "Don't worry about anything," said an aged Haji Mohammed Gaffar of the search for Omar, "we can't find anything to make a person worry. It's all peaceful now and the people who will build the roads and wells can come." The sixteen other leaders - all in kameez, vests and brand new army jackets - concurred, talking over each other and contributing to every question. They swore they'd not supported the Taliban, though thousands of soldiers were recruited from here...
...told us Baghran was peaceful, the surrender a success. Rais the warlord had forsaken his power. "Rais is an old man, a leader of his tribe and a supporter of the government. He will live in the future as a white-bearded old man and will not support Mullah Omar or Osama bin Laden," he said...
...people had thought, the governor insisted. I looked at our Taliban gunman. He had fought with Rais against the Northern Alliance in the Panjshir Valley and well knew his authority. The gunman rolled his eyes. The governor went on: Rais and the elders had "confirmed the absence of Mullah Omar". We asked how he could be so sure? "All the people of Baghran are of our tribe, my own tribe (Alizai). I'm quite sure they wouldn't create problems...