Word: qaeda
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...themselves. If we can provide security while strengthening local governance, the theory goes, Afghans will choose to throw off the insurgent's yoke. In practice, however, it's a lot more complicated, especially in the Korengal Valley, where a toxic combination of local grievances, Taliban sympathizers, al-Qaeda operatives and professional warlords has taken 39 American lives since 2006. For a few days I based myself at Restrepo, an American firebase perched on a mountain ridge overlooking three of the valley's most important villages. One, called Loi Kolay, had been particularly problematic. Last November the Taliban pulled the village...
...Forest Ridge Mall, takes his job waaay too seriously. He bullies his staff like the drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket. He thinks his men should be armed with assault rifles, not just Mace and Tasers. He patrols the mall as if it's Baghdad and al-Qaeda is around the corner. He shrugs off robberies of the mall stores but thinks the escapades of a flasher (Randy Gambill) are the start of World War III. He hears voices in his head, and they're not happy. He's the polar - actually, bipolar - opposite of nice, nebbishy Paul Blart...
...service in feeding the cancer, he responded, "The germ was created by the CIA." True enough, but somewhat dated. "Your government called them the 'moral equivalent of George Washington,' " he said, referring to the mujahedin who defeated the Soviets. True again - and U.S. complicity in the creation of al-Qaeda shouldn't be forgotten - but the game changed after the Russians were kicked out of Afghanistan and the terrorists focused their attention on both the U.S. and Pakistan, where they now reside. Zardari insisted the presence of Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar on Pakistani soil wasn't his fault...
...just to the regime that once ruled the country; the word has become synonymous with any number of antigovernment forces.) Tribal elders say the fight in the Korengal is directed and funded by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a warlord who was once backed by the U.S. and has links to al-Qaeda. Nevertheless, says valley elder Sham Sher Khan, the way to counter the insurgency hasn't changed. He thinks reopening the timber trade would help. "The Taliban say they are fighting because there are Americans here and it's a jihad. But the fact is, they aren't fighting for religion...
...fighters can find sanctuary in Pakistan. Commanders in Afghanistan say the battle next door will be far more complicated than anything they have seen, simply because the Pakistani military doesn't have the skills and resources to conduct an effective counterinsurgency. U.S.-operated Predator drones have successfully targeted al-Qaeda leadership in the border areas, but at the cost of inflaming the Pashtun-led insurgency on the Pakistan side. Stabilizing Afghanistan might well become crucial to preventing the far more terrifying prospect of an Islamist takeover in Pakistan. Says U.S. Army Brigadier General John Nicholson Jr., who commands...