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Time out from a siege
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
came forward and hugged me. "Welcome to the base of the mujahideen in Nawzad. I
am Abdul Khaliq Akhund."
Akhund had once been associated with Ahmad Shah Masoud, the legendary "Lion of
the Panjshir" and leader of the Northern Alliance that resisted the Taliban
throughout their five-year rule. Masoud was assassinated by al-Qaeda shortly
before September 11, 2001, apparently as a gift from Osama bin Laden to the
Taliban for allowing al-Qaeda to operate in Afghanistan.
However, Akhund, who fought mostly in the Kandahar area against the Soviets,
pledged allegiance with Mullah Omar once the Taliban emerged as a power.
Akhund, by all reports an excellent military strategist, is best at
home on the battlefield. He was field commander for Mazar-i-Sharif and other
northern provinces during Taliban rule. When they fell, he went to Helmand.
"This is a tribal society. I am a respected member and also respected as a
mujahid," Akhund said. "I continue to live in this Nawzad district. When the
Americans conducted military operations, I was informed by my tribespeople and
I used to leave the area. When the operations ended, I went back to my place."
By now it was dusk and we all said our evening prayers before dinner was
served. This consisted of bread baked at least three days before, which made it
hard to chew and tasteless - it helped to dip the bread into a bowl of watery
curry. Each person also received a small portion of dried meat. Akhund split
his and threw a piece at me. "You are a guest. Eat well."
"You never attack people of your tribe who join the government?" I asked
Akhund.
"No. They are our strength. Why should we? I share the same opinion for former
Taliban who have joined the Karzai administration or who were elected in the
last parliamentary elections. They are not in the government with real will or
conviction. That have changed loyalties out of compulsion," the war
veteran-turned-Talib explained. This is an unusual attitude, as the Taliban
generally condemn anyone who stands in elections.
"Do you think a person like Mullah Abdus Salaam Rocketi would join the Karzai
administration with conviction?" Akhund asked as he took a sip of water.
Rocketi was a close aide of Mullah Omar in charge of southwest Afghanistan's
military operations when the US attacked in 2001. He surrendered and after a
brief detention was released. In the 2005 parliamentary polls he was elected
from Zabul province.
"Everything was done under duress. Rocketi was against the Pakistani
establishment and he knew that if he tried to go to Pakistan they would settle
a score against him. He was such a prominent person that he could not hide in
Afghanistan, so finally he surrendered. I know him inside out, he would never
be comfortable sitting with the Americans or their stooges," Akhund said.
"The same is true of those Afghan national heroes who fought against the
Soviets and who are now part of the Kabul administration ... for instance,
Toran Ismail Khan [from Herat province ]. I know him, he is a sincere fellow. I
know he is very uncomfortable sitting in Kabul as a federal minister [for
energy and water]. I know he is desperate to be a part of the Afghan national
resistance to kick out the foreign forces, but at the same time it is also a
fact that the Taliban mistreated him in the past and he is not ready to trust
them yet. That's why he is sitting in the Afghan government," said Akhund.
Akhund is convinced that sooner rather than later relations between former
Northern Alliance commanders and the Taliban will be fixed, despite all the
past bitterness.
"Of course, Ahmad Shah Masoud was fighting the Taliban and, had he been
captured, he would have faced dire consequences. But it is also a fact that
what happened to him [assassination] was not the Taliban's policy ... just like
what happened in the US [September 11] was not the Taliban's policy," said
Akhund.
"I believe that nowadays all distinctions between Shi'ite and Sunni, Pashtun
and Tajik, have been forgotten and the Afghan nation is ready to take on
foreign forces with a new zeal. Now it is winter and it is difficult to
mobilize men, either on the plains or the mountains. But once the spring and
summer of 2007 come, the Karzai administration, along with its foreign allies,
will be sacked from Kabul," said Akhund confidently.
In recent months Akhund has led the Taliban to successes in the Baghran
district, and he played a major role in defeating British troops in Musa Qala
recently. Now he has brokered a ceasefire with NATO troops in Nawzad.
"You will see, they will soon withdraw from Nawzad as well. Nevertheless, the
battle will not be over, we will just take it to the next front until they
leave Afghanistan altogether," Akhund said.
By now it was late at night and time for the final prayers of the day, after
which everyone prepared to sleep. It was freezing cold, but Akhund covered
himself from top to toe in his shawl and forcibly handed me a blanket - the
only one in the room.
The next morning after prayers, as I did my ablutions at a small running
watercourse outside the house, I heard the voices of women and children in
another building.
"There are women and children at the war front?" I asked Akhund at breakfast,
which as the previous night consisted of stale bread and tea.
"Yes, we decided to besiege the ANA and NATO base only because this village was
around it. The villagers have voluntarily provided us with a few houses to
establish bases and for dumps for our arms. The rest of the population lives
normally, just as they always have. This is how today's Afghan national
resistance is being formed," said Akhund as he said farewell to rally his men
to take up positions.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can
be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.
home on the battlefield. He was field commander for Mazar-i-Sharif and other
northern provinces during Taliban rule. When they fell, he went to Helmand.
