Rise of a Taliban Commander

Interested in what makes a Taliban commander tick? Time has an excellent report on an interview with one Taliban commander that you can read here.

To be sure, Kandahar is the spiritual home of the Taliban — that's where leader Mullah Omar launched his movement in 1995 — but the insurgency has since diversified. Taliban shadow governors operate in all but one of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, and the movement has expanded into territory that it didn't even possess at the peak of its power in 2001. TIME spoke recently with a Taliban commander based in the country's northeast, near the border with Tajikistan. Until last year, the district of Yangi Qala in Takhar Province had never seen the Taliban. These days the Taliban roam the streets and dispense justice from village squares. Even though it cannot be independently verified, the story of this one commander, who goes by the nom de guerre Mohammad Khalid, helps illustrate how widespread the Taliban has become, and why defeat in the south will achieve little unless it is accompanied by better governance and a robust security force throughout the country.

By: Shelldrake