Word: omar
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Afghans by piecing together their war-shattered country has done more to weaken the Taliban and al-Qaeda than any military operation, say Afghan and American officials. U.S. troops who arrived in Afghanistan expecting to battle Taliban in the ravines now find themselves instead in grim, barren places like Omar's village laying irrigation pipe. And once the villagers began trusting the Americans, say Afghan officials, they slowly abandoned support for the Taliban...
...Certainly, Omar can talk tough. In a taped message on March 8, the mullah said that the Taliban would come out fighting after this year's snowfall melts. Olson, too, expects the Taliban to step up their activities during this spring, and worries that they might combine with al-Qaeda to try a "strategic blow," such as an assassination attempt on Karzai. But the Taliban's ability to carry out such attacks is waning. Two years ago, say U.S. soldiers and their Afghan army colleagues, the Taliban would come over from their Pakistani hideouts in groups...
...Under pressure, the Taliban leadership is beginning to split. Omar and a band of 10 loyal commanders still conduct military operations-but only from a distance, according to coalition officials. One Afghan official who acts as liaison with U.S. Special Forces says that Omar was spotted two months ago in Karachi, more than 800 km away from the Afghan field of battle, though Abdul Latif Hakimi, a Taliban spokesman, denies the report. "I've seen Mullah Omar many times, always in Afghanistan" Hakimi told TIME. If so, nobody told the Taliban fighter chatting recently on a radio monitored by coalition...
...Kabul, Karzai is hoping that the Taliban are now demoralized enough to consider an amnesty. Soon, Karzai is expected to announce a "reconciliation" with all Taliban except Omar and his top commanders. The president's envoys are sending out feelers to former fighters. Olson claims that more than 30 former Taliban officials have accepted the terms, but sources caution that these were bureaucrats, not true commanders. Karzai has been using money and tribal blood ties to split Taliban commanders away from Omar, insiders say, promising them a chance to run in this fall's parliamentary elections...
...loyalty to the Afghan constitution. So far, according to Rocketi, it has been a tough sell. "The Taliban are afraid they'll be put in prison, or killed," he says. That's an understandable fear. During their five-year rule, the Taliban made many enemies. But even in Omar's village of Singesar, locals say they have been trying to persuade Taliban relatives to return home, now that the rains have come and planting season is underway. A nomad preacher has set up a small school in Omar's deserted madrasah, and girls are being taught there-unthinkable when Omar...