Word: pashtun
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When Taliban fighters retook the city, they killed 8,000, particularly the Shi'ite Hazaras, and left corpses rotting in the streets. Now Dostum and his allies own the city again, and Pashtun are fleeing because they fear massacre...
...retreating Taliban fighters knew there was only one option: to run fast and far. Retreating into Mazar-i-Sharif's maze of dusty alleys was certain death; the Taliban had made too many enemies. During its three-year rule of Mazar-i-Sharif, the Taliban, who belong to the Pashtun tribes of southern Afghanistan, had mercilessly persecuted the Uzbek and Hazara ethnic minorities. After the city fell, they hauled up guns hidden under the floorboards and took revenge as the Taliban forces fled in disarray. "From the houses, the Uzbeks were picking off the Taliban stragglers," said an Islamabad-based...
...fall of Mazar-i-Sharif may be a heartening victory for the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance, but it has sharpened the ancient feuds that bedevil Afghanistan. The Pashtun--a group of tribes that accounts for about 40% of the country's 26 million people--are almost sure to rally behind the Taliban, since America is now seen as backing the Pashtun's worst enemies. The Pashtun have ruled Afghanistan since the 18th century, and their will to fight may be steeled by the specter of marauding Northern Alliance troops--made up of Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras--attacking with U.S. warplanes...
...favor of the Taliban is also being raised among the Pashtun tribes of Pakistan's borderlands. Last week more than 11,300 Pakistani Pashtun, some armed with nothing more than single-shot hunting rifles and swords, crossed into Afghanistan over the high mountain passes near Bajour, north of Peshawar, to join the Taliban. Those with combat experience were rushed up to Mazar-i-Sharif. Pakistani officials at the Bajour checkpoint made no effort to stop the holy warriors. "These are mad people," said a security officer, shrugging. "Let them...
...Pakistani efforts to forge a Pashtun opposition to the Taliban are falling behind the battlefield advances. With the death last month of prominent Pashtun war commander Abdul Haq--who was betrayed and executed by the Taliban while trying to recruit tribal elders for a revolt--U.S. hopes are pinned on Hamad Karzai, a pro-Western Pashtun nobleman who is in southern Afghanistan, urging tribal elders to back exiled King Mohammed Zahir Shah...