Word: talibanism
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...Seeking justice from government officials, says Samimi, "is like going to the wolves for help when the wolves have stolen your sheep." As the Obama Administration signals that it intends to devote more attention to the war in Afghanistan, many Afghans claim that in the name of fighting the Taliban, the West is ignoring abuses committed by its Afghan proxies. One of the worst offenders, alleges Samimi, is Abdul Rashid Dostum, an ethnic-Uzbek warlord who helped in the triumphant ousting of the Taliban in 2001, when, backed by U.S. special forces, he led hundreds of men on horseback...
...Mohammad runs the provincial capital, Faizabad, as one big protection racket. Foreign humanitarian organizations that don't hire his security services face attacks. When organizers at the German-run regional military-assistance base attempted to dismiss his men because of a compelling accusation of murder, the base was firebombed; Taliban militants were blamed even though they are not known to operate in that area. Says a former prosecutor at the Attorney General's office: "Mohammad is such a powerful person in Badakhshan that he can cause many problems if his demands are not answered--even rocket attacks and roadside bombs...
...warlords have held power in Afghanistan. After the 1989 withdrawal of Soviet troops, rival mujahedin groups that had united to drive out the foreigners turned on one another in a brutal civil war. The government collapsed, and militia commanders were able to seize territory and terrorize the population. The Taliban capitalized on widespread disgust with the warlords' savagery, coming to power in 1996. After Sept. 11, the U.S. relied on the northern warlords and their militias to help oust the Taliban. Many of those leaders were given prominent positions when the new Afghan government was formed, enabling them to claw...
Samimi laments the squandered chance for Afghanistan to start over. "Right after the collapse of the Taliban, the government had the opportunity to go after these commanders because they were scared and weak," she says. "Instead, the international community and the government supported them and made them stronger. They didn't bring them to justice. They waited until they committed more crimes. For this we ousted the Taliban...
Educated moderates like Samimi have no love for the Taliban. But they have become disillusioned with the current government, in large part because of the unaddressed venality of militia commanders. Francesc Vendrell, the former European Union envoy to Afghanistan, holds that warlordism, as he calls it, is just as much at the root of the insurgency as religious ideology. "In Muslim society, justice is the most essential element, and here in Afghanistan, people simply don't see it exist. They see impunity, they see a few people become extremely wealthy, and they see cruelty," Vendrell says. "Therefore I think many...