Word: mujahedin
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This is not the first time warlords have held power in Afghanistan. After the 1989 withdrawal of Soviet troops, rival mujahedin groups that had united to drive out the foreigners turned on one another in a brutal civil war. The government collapsed, and militia commanders were able to seize territory and terrorize the population. The Taliban capitalized on widespread disgust with the warlords' savagery, coming to power in 1996. After Sept. 11, the U.S. relied on the northern warlords and their militias to help oust the Taliban. Many of those leaders were given prominent positions when the new Afghan government...
...major cities. And as the Taliban well knows, in a rural society dominated by local warlords, the impression of military might functions as a force multiplier: back in 1996, the Taliban (with extensive backing from the Pakistani military) raced across Afghanistan to seize power in Kabul by trouncing mujahedin rivals in a few early battles and then simply allowing word of their military prowess and momentum to discourage further resistance. Most of the warlords along the Taliban's path to Kabul simply threw in their lot with what seemed to be an unstoppable force. (See pictures of the battle against...
...many years, the roughly 3,500 members of the Iranian dissident group Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) living quietly in Iraq drew little attention. But now the relatively obscure group is at the center of an increasingly contentious argument among leaders in Baghdad, Tehran and Washington, where decisions the new White House makes about the rebels will probably set the tone for U.S. relations with Iran in the near term...
...Year's Day to celebrate the official transfer of Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone to Iraqi control, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared Jan. 1 the "day of sovereignty" and congratulated his compatriots for having waited so long. He also warned that an Iranian resistance group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), would no longer be able to have a base on Iraqi territory. (See pictures of life returning to Iraq's streets...
...camp intact. "We have many differences with Iran, and Iran is very deeply involved in Iraq, so I don't think it's wise to end the Iranian resistance," said Salah al-Mutlaq, a Sunni member of parliament from the Iraqi National Dialogue Front. "For the Americans, surrendering the Mujahedin-e Khalq file to the Iraqi government is a big mistake...