Word: pir
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...Chechen al-Qaeda troops opposed any surrender; they wanted to fight. On Tuesday a group of about 200 Taliban soldiers seemed to be giving themselves up to the Alliance near Bangi. "Some raised their hands, but others had guns, and they killed several of our soldiers," said General Pir Mohammed Khaksar, a front-line Alliance commander from Taloqan. There were also reports that three Arabs had pretended to surrender to Alliance troops in the town of Dasht-i-Archi in the north of Kunduz province. When Alliance soldiers approached them to take their weapons, the Arabs detonated the bombs strapped...
Before the attendees even settled in their seats, host Pir Sayed Ahmed Gailani, a spiritual leader who has positioned himself close to deposed King Zahir Shah, sought backing for his plan to set up an interim supreme council headed by the former monarch. Under Gailani's plan, after the Taliban fell, a council chaired by the King would assume power, backed by a U.N. security force from Muslim countries. The council would call a loya jirga, the traditional representative political gathering, to write a constitution acceptable to all ethnic groups within the framework of Islamic law. Speaker after speaker embraced...
...Pir Sayed Ahmad Gailani, 56, is the most pro-Western and secular of the mujahedin leaders, despite his claim of direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad. Gailani's National Islamic Front is nicknamed the "Gucci Muj" for its leader's taste in well-tailored camouflage uniforms. Though he favors the return of exiled King Zahir Shah, Gailani is also a fervent believer in Western-style elections...
...down with a man who has killed so many of our friends?" Another reason is the rivalry among rebel leaders. They range from religious zealots like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hezb-e-Islami (Gulbuddin), who want to erect a theocratic state, to Muslim moderates like Pir Gailani who favor the traditional Afghan way of life...
Khalis, however, was not speaking with the full backing of his alliance's membership. Pir Sayed Ahmad Gailani, leader of the most important moderate guerrilla faction, criticized Khalis for failing to clear his statement with other mujahedin leaders. Gailani told TIME he favored talking with Cordovez. That way, he said, "at least he will know what our position is and pass it on" to the Soviets. Gailani's rebuff of a fellow rebel may be part of the jockeying for position in a post-Soviet power structure...