Word: warlords
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Rais the Baghran, Helmand's most powerful warlord, and a fearsome Taliban commander said to be sheltering Omar, had agreed to surrender and had relinquished some arms. "Shir Mohammed and the Americans did not trust him," Mirwali continued, "So they asked Rais to go inside Baghran." We asked Mirwali if, as intelligence reports and Kandahar commanders say, Rais was hiding Mullah Omar in his Baghran realm. "This issue is unconfirmed," Mirwali said unhurriedly, though Taliban commanders who withdrew from Gereshk went that way. We told him we wanted to go to Baghran. We asked for soldiers. He shook his head...
...here and see you," he said, convincing us to wait. It was not long. The iron gates flung open and grimy 4x4s zoomed in. Haji Shir Mohammed had arrived. Shorter and younger than I had somehow expected, he told us Baghran was peaceful, the surrender a success. Rais the warlord had forsaken his power. "Rais is an old man, a leader of his tribe and a supporter of the government. He will live in the future as a white-bearded old man and will not support Mullah Omar or Osama bin Laden," he said...
...Haji Shir Mohammed began by defending the resilient warlord he'd come to tame. Rais was never the Taliban powerbroker people had thought, the governor insisted. I looked at our Taliban gunman. He had fought with Rais against the Northern Alliance in the Panjshir Valley and well knew his authority. The gunman rolled his eyes. The governor went on: Rais and the elders had "confirmed the absence of Mullah Omar". We asked how he could be so sure? "All the people of Baghran are of our tribe, my own tribe (Alizai). I'm quite sure they wouldn't create problems...
...Meet the new warlord...
...local commanders on whose support it had depended simply switched sides or negotiated sweet surrender deals once the writing was on the wall - for the most part their men kept their weapons, and once the American bombers had tipped the tactical balance, towns changed hands in traditional warlord horse-trading rituals rather than in pitched battles. Even though they no longer control any significant territory, the Taliban's thousands of fighters may remain an asset prized by various warlords in their continuing turf battles for control over southern Afghanistan. And such calculations may be hindering the hunt for Mullah Omar...