Taliban unnerves formerly secure sector
By Kim Barker
The Chicago Tribune, 04 September 2006
MUQOR, Afghanistan -- This town was once a success story, where girls attended school and the Taliban had no sway. But on a recent night, enemy fighters surrounded the district headquarters, fired rockets and bullets at the few men guarding the place and kidnapped seven people. "Son of Bush," they shouted.
Three days later, U.S. Army Capt. Erik Schiemann looked at the damage, the smoke-blackened rooms, the bullet-pocked walls, the caved-in roof. He told the new police chief, away during the attack, that the government and the military had failed Muqor. The Taliban had won this battle.
"This is terrible," Schiemann told the police chief, Raz Mohammad. "They totally ruined the governor's quarters. They destroyed the old district center. If nothing else, they have a huge opportunity to brag."
Such victories are common in southern Afghanistan, a stronghold for the Taliban, anti-government insurgents and drug runners, where suicide bombings have become a daily event.
But Muqor is in south-central Ghazni province. The provincial capital of Ghazni is about a two-hour drive from Kabul, the capital.
Over the last six months, security in Ghazni has deteriorated to the point that U.S. soldiers complain openly about the weak Ghazni governor, and Afghan police acknowledge they are scared. Ghazni province has turned into a symbol of the resurgent Taliban, waging its most successful offensive against international troops and the U.S.-backed government since being driven out almost five years ago.
`There are so many of them'
"As soon as they get you, they will kill you," said Barialai, who like many Afghans uses only one name and works just outside the U.S. military base near the provincial capital, also named Ghazni. "There are so many of them here."
On Aug. 25, the Taliban attacked in Muqor, killing one police officer and kidnapping seven people--four contractors building the security wall around the district headquarters, two police officers and one man who worked at a cell phone tower. The four contractors were released after the Afghan company negotiated with the Taliban. The other three haven't been heard from.
The Taliban rarely lets government workers go free. On Monday, three nights after attacking Muqor, Taliban fighters kidnapped two Afghan soldiers in the Qara Bagh district of Ghazni. They used one kidnapped soldier's cell phone to call another soldier, forcing him to listen as the two kidnapped men were tortured to death.
On Tuesday, Zemarak, a police officer, described how a dozen Taliban fighters showed up the night before in Pashtoonabad village, near the U.S. military base and Ghazni city. They rode motorcycles and carried Kalashnikov assault rifles and rocket launchers, a brazen show of force. By the time police responded, the Taliban fighters were gone.
"They have grown so much," Zemarak said.
The U.S. military now believes that Andar district, just south of Ghazni city, is the source of Taliban activity in five provinces. Taliban recruiters go from house to house demanding either a young man to fight or $100. The government is not in control here; the Taliban is.
This year the government banned all unlicensed motorcycles in Andar in an effort to stop the Taliban from using motorcycles. The Taliban responded by banning vehicles in Andar. Everyone stopped driving.
Andar tribal elders don't like to talk about the Taliban, likely because they fear retaliation. "During the night, the Taliban come," said Adam Khan, 65, standing outside the Ghazni governor's office. "We don't know who they are. We don't know where they are from. We don't know their names."
"Come on, you know even the names of the mothers of the Taliban," responded Fazel Ahmad, the head of Deyak district in the province. "I know the names of the Taliban. How do you not know?"
The fact that Ghazni is so close to Kabul shows how powerful the Taliban has become in certain pockets of Afghanistan, and how weak the government is.
Corrupting influences
The problems illustrate the kind of compromises the Afghan government has made throughout the country, where nothing is what it seems on the surface.
Sher Alam Ebrahimi, the Ghazni governor, is an accused war criminal, but he's also a former military commander linked to a powerful warlord, now a member of parliament. There aren't enough professional police in Ghazni, so tribal militias are used to fight the Taliban, despite the fact that the government is trying to stop relying on these militias. And these militia fighters are often more successful than the regular police because of their hatred of the Taliban. But militia members are also sometimes corrupt.
The situation in Muqor shows just how compromise works in Afghanistan. Mohammad was named as district police chief two weeks ago--part of the country's attempts to make a more professional police force. He replaced Dawlat Khan, a tribal militia leader removed from earlier posts because of allegations of corruption.
Schiemann, the Army captain, is now pushing to have Khan reinstated as police chief. When the Taliban attacked Muqor, Mohammad was nowhere to be found. But Khan was there, fighting back, losing men.
"He's embezzled money," Schiemann acknowledged. "But he fights the Taliban. What are we supposed to do?"
Ebrahimi, the governor for the last 15 months, put his head in his hands when asked about security in his province. He acknowledged that security has grown worse in Ghazni but he insisted that the government controls the whole province. He blamed outsiders for supporting the Taliban and said Ghazni is hit hard because it is near the border with Pakistan. He also said offensives by international troops in the south and east of Afghanistan may have pushed the Taliban into Ghazni.
"We do not have enough security forces here," he said. "We do not have enough police. That is our problem."
Others said Ebrahimi is a problem. Several U.S. soldiers said they believe Ebrahimi is corrupt. The United Nations mission has been opposed to Ebrahimi since his appointment because of charges of human-rights abuses.
Ebrahimi will be replaced soon, sources said. But most likely, they said, he won't move far. Instead, he will be made the governor of another province.
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Citation: Kim Barker. "Afghanistan success story loses luster," The Chicago Tribune, 04 September 2006.
Original URL: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0609040143sep04,1,736944.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
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