All change, all the same: Afghan Taliban 10 years on focus 10/06/2011

All change, all the same: Afghan Taliban 10 years on

focus

10/06/2011
KABUL — In the 10 years since being toppled from power by invading US troops, the Taliban have transformed from media-shy mullahs into a technology-savvy guerilla force who could still end up back in government.

Ousted just weeks after a foreign assault started on Oct. 7, 2001, the Taliban retreated, at least partly to Pakistan, and were written off by Western militaries as a spent force.

But they rebuilt and re-emerged to lead an increasingly brutal insurgency with a new generation of fighters motivated by the presence of 140,000 foreign troops — and some shifts in emphasis, if not belief.

Until earlier this year, Mullah Noor-Ul Aziz was the Taliban’s shadow governor in Kunduz, north Afghanistan and before that was a commander in charge of 300 fighters in the southern province of Helmand..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111006com6.html