New Breed of Taliban replaces old guard
Money and a hatred of foreigners are motivating a new generation of Afghan fighters.
Beware: these men may lay down their lives for you if you are their guest. But they may hack your head off if you’re an intruder.
They soon demonstrated gruesome beheading videos on their state-of-the-art mobiles to establish their credentials.
Hamidullah Khan, a veteran fighter in his mid-forties, underlined why the wild body-counts of the Afghan government are meaningless. These Talibs fight, he claimed, like shark’s teeth. “This is the late Mullah Dadullah’s home. He gave his life for God’s will. When he was killed 20,000 more came forward in the name of Dadullah. They’re now behind him. This is the Taliban way. When one is killed another comes in. Then another. We don’t leave the ground empty.”
And there was no evidence here of hordes crossing the frontier from Pakistan. To a man they were Afghan. The sole foreigner, Aftab Panjabi, a former Pakistan Army officer, took a dozen Talibs through the art of firing an AK47 accurately.
They were candid about their motives. There was no chat of Mullah Omar – the old Taliban leader – nor Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. Their fight is both modern – and yet traditional.
In modern terms they feel nothing has changed. They see a country mired in corruption. They know there is a government of sorts in distant Kabul but it has no writ here. Haji Hyatullah, in his twenties, may have his face covered in black turban – but talks openly about getting far more money fighting with the Taliban than any other job around. Assuming for a second that there were any jobs. “People are getting fed up with the lies the government has told them.
- from The Telegraph in the UK
