Word: talibanism
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...Afghans to stand up for 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...
Later that day we embarked on an operation to Loi Kolay, in part to speak with the villagers, but also to see what we could learn about the morning's attack. Usually we went to Loi Kolay at night because unlike the American soldiers, the Taliban don't have night vision scopes and don't fight in the dark. Far too many day trips to the village ended up with soldiers getting shot at on their way home. But night trips don't lend well to winning hearts and minds, especially if you are kicking down doors in search...
...mangled limbs - all the points exposed by the limits of Kevlar. What is more insane than running 200 meters through gunfire to reach the safety? But we did. I felt like Bruce Willis in Die Hard, somehow dancing between the bullets that showered from below and behind. The Taliban can shoot, but they can't aim. We were lucky. All of us were...
...them students, from the northwest tribal areas. A young man said he had known one of those killed in a Predator drone strike. "You killed 10 members of his family," he said. Another said the refugees created by the Predator strikes had destabilized his village. "Are many of them Taliban?" Holbrooke asked...
...Taliban," the young man replied. It seemed a statement of solidarity, not affiliation, but as a way of revealing how mixed loyalties and deep resentments make Pakistan so difficult to handle, it was shocking all the same...