Word: talibanism
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Afghanistan: Karzai, for Better or Worse... It's been an open secret for some years now that the U.S. deems President Hamid Karzai incapable of delivering the sort of governance essential to winning the war against the Taliban. His administration is notoriously corrupt, dependent on the support of unsavory warlords - some of whom are no more inclined to allow girls to go to school than is the Taliban - and may possibly even be in league with drug traffickers. And yet, this week's news that Gul Agha Sherzai, seen by many Western diplomats as a favored challenger to Karzai...
Details of the attack are still vague. On Monday, free-ranging Taliban militants reportedly came upon an Afghan police checkpoint and killed three officers. When Afghan Army units arrived to back them up, they encountered stiff resistance and called in U.S. air support. The International Committee of the Red Cross has confirmed that "dozens" died in the ensuing bombardment, including women and children. Afghan officials alternately say between 100 and 150 people died in their homes, where miltants were using them as human shields. A team of U.S. and Afghan investigators is now examining the scene. See pictures from recent...
...victims have already been buried in accord with Islamic custom, Belquis Roshan, a woman on Farah's provincial council, told TIME by telephone. But if the higher total is confirmed, it would amount to the deadliest single attack on civilians since the American-led invasion that ousted the Taliban in 2001. Worse, it's part of a growing pattern. According to U.N. figures, 2,118 civilians were killed in conflict-related violence last year, a jump of nearly 40% compared to the year before. Of that figure, pro-government forces were responsible for 828 deaths. (See how Afghanistan's travails...
...risk of civilian deaths. Nader Nadery, head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, says it's "too soon to judge" whether changes in coalition policy are making a difference since the fighting season in Afghanistan has just begun. However, says Nadery, what's certain is that the Taliban continue to use civilians as human shields "as an effective PR strategy" to turn public opinion against the government. (Read a story on why the Afghan war has lasted so long...
...security forces who dare not leave their walled compounds. "They are so free to move around that some actually think the U.S. is helping them," he said by phone. Roshan, the councilwoman, insists the U.S. forces have done just that by killing people they were sent to protect. "The Taliban are murderers, but when the U.S. is guilty, it's a massacre," she says. "If the situation goes on like this, the whole country will one day become Taliban...