Afghanistan's Eastern Front
Along the Pakistani border, al Qaeda and Taliban fighters take their best shots
Taliban and al Qaeda tactics, including attacks and kidnappings, appear to have had in impact in the wheat fields just outside of Khost. "We can't talk against the Taliban anymore in front of our own people," said Mir Ahmed Shah, an Afghan criminal investigator along the border in the Gurbuz district of Khost. "We are confused as to what the U.S.A. is doing here. Now the Taliban move freely, especially in the last two months."
Other Afghan citizens and politicians believe that a broader Afghan conflict is inevitable in lieu of a peace process that currently has little international backing. And despite the U.S. military's contention that it is putting the Afghans in charge, the real voice and money behind the scenes is—for many Afghans—still that of a foreign occupier.
Government radio stations have been offered a base and funding inside the blast walls of American military compounds. While this has enabled the stations to boost their broadcasting range, it has undercut their credibility with Afghans, says Zahid Shah Angar, director of the independent "Peace Message Radio" in Khost. "They don't report the truth anymore, especially if the U.S. forces get bad intelligence and kill someone accidentally."
Philip Smucker is author of Al Qaeda's Great Escape: The Military and the Media on Terror's Trail (Potomac Books, 2004).
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