Resurgent Afghan Taliban reinvents itself

WASHINGTON - A resurgent Taliban, whose popularity is fuelled by dissatisfaction with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and US-led coalition airstrikes resulting in civilian deaths, has set up a virtual parallel government, a leading US newspaper reported Saturday.

When defeated by the US-led coalition in 2001, the Taliban had been reduced to a rag-tag group. But now it operates a sort of parallel government with defence and finance councils, judges and officials in some areas, according to The Washington Post.

The Taliban has updated itself for a new generation, Waheed Mojda, a former official from when the Taliban ruled most of the country in the late 1990s, told the Post, saying, "They are more educated, and they don't punish people for having CDs or cassettes. The old Taliban wanted to bring sharia (Islamic law), security and unity to Afghanistan. The new Taliban has much broader goals to drive foreign forces out of the country and the Muslim world."

The inability of Karzai to deliver needed infrastructure is driving civilians in Afghanistan into the arms of the Taliban, the Post said. "Their popularity is increasing day by day, because the government has done nothing for our province," obstetrician Roshanak Wardak said.