Reports of a Taliban “shadow government” complete with its own court system are not new. Indeed, we’ve been covering the phenomenon for well over a year, and it has only grown as the group’s influence has gained.
But to appreciate just how big and how credible this alternative government has gotten, one needs to closely examine its inner workings, particularly in regions where it has replaced the NATO-backed government for all intents and purposes.
In Helmand Province, the south-western province along the Pakistani border which NATO is constantly attacking, it isn’t just a question of alternative courts: the Taliban are even issuing paperwork to the locals. Traveling into Helmand’s capital city one encounters many checkpoints, and the Taliban are handing out official travel permits which allow people through those checkpoints.
The growth isn’t happening in a vacuum, of course, as locals are increasingly turning to the Taliban on their own, in the face of corrupt and incompetent officials in the Karzai administration.
Despite assurances from the Karzai government that they are in full control of the situation, the reality on the ground suggests they are not. Even NATO, the Karzai government’s international muscle, concedes that the Taliban is already setting up a “government in waiting,” ready to return to power the second the Karzai government crumbles.
NATO has committed massive military forces to prevent this from happening, but after nearly a decade of war and ever increasing troop numbers, the Taliban’s influence seems to be growing all the time, in some cases the group is even more powerful than it was before the 2001 invasion.
This shouldn't be surprising. The Taliban, contrary to American public opinion, was very popular, since it was less corrupt than it's predecessor
Can Sharia solve the US legal system's problems? Who can afford justice in the US anymore?
ok as long as ya give the mob rules the river of piped and lined oil beneath yer feets (collective)and the electro-radio spectrum over yer heads,overflight and abhoritions of horrors on the way to the wedding parties,(crash & burn) (also collectivelly) I'm sure ya'll appreciate our appreciation (aka-security and protection),well that and stay non-alligned while on probation/parole ? /in the cross hairs and freedom and democracy will flurish for Israel's and Pakistains WMDs',that and just keep the Veit Kong &thair majik disappearing domano set, from traversing the hindu kush,who wouldn't vote or veto for of & to that,that's right garbage is non-sense,the price keeps changing but for you UNKNOWN
America and NATO will be defeated in Afghanistan just like the other foolish empires before them were. The great Graveyard of Empires will do it again, and again!