Word: talibanizing
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...Islamabad Dead ...? U.S. and Pakistani officials strongly believe that Baitullah Mehsud, the secretive leader of Pakistan's Taliban, was killed in a U.S. drone attack on Aug. 5 in South Waziristan, despite assurances from a Taliban spokesman that the warlord was "safe." Pakistani officials are awaiting results of DNA analysis comparing the remains with those of Mehsud's brother, who was killed last October. Analysts suspect the Taliban could be denying the death until a replacement for Mehsud is chosen. Meanwhile, two senior Taliban leaders, potential Mehsud successors, were reportedly killed in subsequent days--possibly in a feud for control...
...days since millions of Afghans braved Taliban threats at the polls, President Hamid Karzai and his leading challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, have waged their own offensive, trading accusations of fraud and impending victory. It may look like politics as usual. But against a volatile backdrop of resurgent militancy and ethnic fault lines, the consequences for Afghanistan's fragile democracy are harder to predict...
...polling station, Faiz Muhammad, 44, said he had nothing to lose. Since a landmine destroyed his left leg during the jihad against the Soviets, he has worked odd-jobs, most recently as a watch repairman in Arghandab, a volatile district north of the city. But the Taliban has suffocated life there, he says, with no respect for his past sacrifice. "We fought to live in peace, and now they are making things impossible, fighting the police. Damn them." (Read about the Taliban threat to disrupt the election...
...Afghans did so in lesser numbers than the last presidential elections. And that is an ominous change, emblematic of the deepening insecurity that plagues much of the country. The climate of fear was measurable in degrees depending on what part of Afghanistan you were in: higher across the Taliban's southern stronghold, where threats of violence in cities like Kandahar were punctuated by sporadic attacks; and less so toward the center and north, the base of President Karzai's top challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, the former foreign minister. (Watch a video about Abdullah Abdullah...
...north was not without militant attacks. Raging gun-battles in Baghlan province resulted in the deaths of at least 21 militants and forced polling stations to close. Overall, however, the south fared worse. Just one voting station opened in southern Helmand province, where Taliban calls for a boycott held sway. In Kandahar, a "night letter" campaign ahead of the vote forewarned residents that their fingers would be cut off if they dared to participate. Many still braved the threat, but observers suggested that voter turnout there was perhaps as much as 40% lower than 2004 elections - a potential setback...