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Q&A: How Are the Taliban Linked to the Ancient Tribe the World Never Quite Conquers?
By Dana Kennedy - AOL NewsJust when NATO forces in Afghanistan thought the Taliban were finally less of a threat, they staged an astonishing comeback Monday when they broke about 488 of their colleagues, mostly fighters and commanders, out of a maximum-security prison. Five days before the mass escape from Kandahar's Sarpoza prison, Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke confidently of the gains U.S.-led forces had made against the Taliban and predicted they were about to "turn a corner" in driving them out of power for good. Gates' optimistic remarks, followed by the prison break -- which was similar to an equally ...
Report: Taliban Staging Surge of Its Own in Northern Afghanistan
By Paul Wachter - AOL News(Aug. 9) -- It appears that the Taliban are having a "surge" of their own. NPR reports that American troops are being sent to police northern Afghan provinces that traditionally have been free of Taliban influence. To this point, the Taliban has drawn most of its support from Afghanistan's Pashtun population, which is largest in the south. Last October, a U.S. official put the number of full-time Taliban fighters at around 25,000. American forces, by contrast, are climbing toward the peak of just short of 100,000 expected later this year. But the NPR report suggests how the insurgents might ...
Report: Pashtun Men Defy West's Sexual Categories
By Sharon Weinberger - AOL NewsWASHINGTON (Jan. 29) – A controversial Pentagon program that embeds anthropologists in the military has produced a report that claims that homosexual behavior is considered unremarkable among Pashtun men in Afghanistan, according to Fox News. A research team embedded with Marines in southern Afghanistan reported that Pashtun men often have sex with other men, but do not identify themselves as homosexuals. The report, a copy of which was obtained by Fox News, reportedly encourages the American military not to "dismiss" the Pashtuns' unique approach to sexual behavior. The report related ...
Lesson From an Afghan Oasis: Leave Us Alone
By Adnan R. Khan - AOL NewsJEGDALEK, Afghanistan (Jan. 22) -- Few words can do justice to the beauty of the Afghan village of Jegdalek. Its verdant valley stands out like a glittering emerald among vast brown mountains. Apricot, almond and mulberry orchards bloom in psychedelic lollipop shades in the spring and provide much-needed shade in the sweltering summer. A combination of luck, history, geography and leadership has made the village a remarkable island of calm in Afghanistan's tumultuous Pashtun belt. Since the fall of the Taliban regime at the end of 2001, Jegdalek has been transformed from a desolate ruin left ...
The Word Obama Left Out of His Afghanistan Speech
By David Corn - Politics DailyThere was a word that President Obama did not use once during his speech on Afghanistan last week. This word also did not appear in yesterday's long front-page New York Times article (full of White House-leaked details) chronicling the back story to Obama's decision to send 30,000 more U.S. soldiers to Afghanistan. And that word is Pashtun. Obama repeatedly referred to the Taliban, noting that "the Taliban has begun to take control over swaths of Afghanistan." (Actually, the Taliban, after being booted out of Kabul, has held control in parts of Afghanistan for years.) The way Obama talks about ...
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