'Taliban Regains Power, Influence In Afghanistan', The Wall Street Journal, 20 November 2008
EXCERPT: "The Taliban are setting up courts and other local-government institutions across southern Afghanistan, challenging U.S. efforts to pacify the country and bolster the authority of the central government in Kabul. Senior American military officials said the Taliban run roughly two dozen law courts in southern Afghanistan, one of the armed Islamist group's main strongholds. Drawing on a fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law, the courts work to resolve conflicts over property, grazing rights and inheritances, the officials said. The Taliban have also appointed unofficial governors and mayors to exercise day-to-day control over remote areas, amounting to a parallel government independent of Kabul, according to the U.S. officials. 'I do see the attempts in many areas by the Taliban to exert intimidation and exert control,' Gen. David McKiernan, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said in remarks Tuesday at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank. 'They do try to have shadow governors or court systems.'"
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See also:
'Canadian-led mission flushes Taliban from Zhari, uncovers explosives caches', The Canadian Press, 20 November 2008
'Pakistan jets kill 17 Taliban and Uzbek al-Qaida militants', The Times of India, 20 November 2008
'Pakistan, US coordinate strikes against the Taliban', The Long War Journal, 20 November 2008
'Pashtun tribes seen as key to Afghan peace', Reuters India, 20 November 2008
Related posts:
'Afghan Taliban leader rejects Karzai's safety vow', 17 November 2008
'Afghan insurgency stronger than ever', 12 November 2008
'In Afghanistan, Islamists' influence widens', 10 November 2008
'Taliban is now a threat to region: Afghan official', 14 October 2008
'Weak states, state failure and terrorism', 30 October 2007
