Afghan, U.S. forces face growing insecurity in key province

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Police man an outpost overlooking Taliban-controlled territory on the outskirts of Pul-i-Khumri, the administrative center of the troubled northern Afghan province of Baghlan.


Afghan, U.S. forces face growing insecurity in key province
By Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Monday, October 4, 2010

PUL-I-KHUMRI, Afghanistan — Abdul Rehman Rahimi, the police chief of Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan, was just saying that the Taliban threat was under control when his counter-terrorism chief walked in, smirking with self-satisfaction and holding up a homemade detonator and a tangle of charred electrical wire tipped by a blasting cap.

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The insurgents' numbers, however, are growing. Chaos, fraud, corruption and joblessness help their recruiting.

The province is engulfed by ethnic tensions, warlordism, corruption, poverty and crime.

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"People ask the government for security. Day by day it has gotten worse. The cost of goods has gotten higher. The government has done nothing for the people," said Abdul Basir, 35, a shopkeeper who trades in bright, sequined women's garments.

Some in Baghlan pointed out that the U.S. had been in the country for nine years, and they wondered whether it wants the war to continue for its own devious purposes.