Zarif Nazar is a producer and correspondent for RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan.
Drug smuggling is big business in northern Afghanistan, where one-fifth of the country's illegal exports goes across the Afghan-Tajik border. The business enriches the drug lords. But it terrifies ordinary villagers, who often become pawns in the game.
Can local forces help turn the tide against the Taliban? Washington is looking at that possibility as it weighs a new strategy for Afghanistan. The model is the success of tribal forces in marginalizing Al-Qaeda in Iraq. But many Afghans say turning to local militias can be a risky business. We look at why in this second of a two-part series on local militias in Afghanistan.
For eight years since the U.S.-aided toppling of the Taliban, the residents of the Qala-i-Zal district of Konduz Province have relied on Afghan government forces for security. Now, with a resurgent Taliban, worried local officials have taken matters into their own hands.
With Western eyes focused on fighting the Taliban in Afghan's south and east, security in the previously peaceful north has dramatically worsened. Taliban numbers are growing, too few Afghan forces patrol, and German troops sent for reconstruction are reluctant to switch to a full combat role.
