Locals cash in on Al Qaeda, Taliban

But Qasmi and his men are not popular in Ghazni, where both Tajik and Pashtun tribesmen are also vying for control of this sprawling, 3,000 year-old crossroads and former capital of the country.

The Tajik security chief of Ghazni, Ismail Khan, says that he has no objection to Qasmi hunting Al Qaeda and Taliban members in the countryside, but wants the Hazara commander's men to abandon the ancient fortress they have seized in the city center.

"Before the Taliban arrived in this city, the Hazara were robbing and raping. We finally forced them out of the city in 1994," Mr. Khan says.

The Hazaras of Afghanistan is believed to have descended from the Mongol conqueror, Ghengis Khan. Until late in the 19th century, they lived in an autonomous mountain fiefdom near Bamiyan and had only limited contact with their neighbors.

Today's enemies of the Hazaras contend that their human rights record is not much better than that of Ghengis Khan's men. Indeed, the three Al Qaeda captives that the Hazaras have in captivity at present have been severely beaten on a regular basis - even by Hazara accounts.

"We beat them almost every night, but still they haven't begun to tell us the truth," says Qurban Ali, who is Qasmi's tall, turbaned right-hand man.

The most lucrative catch by far - worth $80,000 to his small army - came late last year when the Hazara commander arranged through a local Taliban source to have Mullah Wasiq, the militia's deputy intelligence chief, over to dinner.

Also invited were four US Special Forces and three men in plain clothes that the commander now says he is sure were CIA.

Mullah Wasiq and a close associate brought 15 bodyguards for what quickly evolved into a roundtable discussion. As the conversation progressed, Qasmi offered the Taliban officials "amnesty" in exchange for their cooperation as "counterintelligence officers."

There had been some suggestion that Mullah Wasiq might be interested in the deal, Qasmi says. But when his American minders gave the nod, he knew that the time had come to act.

His men moved in for the snatch. Entering through several low-set windows in the commander's home, Hazara fighters quickly disarmed the Taliban officials, who were in one room eating while their guards were next door drinking tea.

In exchange for turning the men in, Qasmi claims he received $80,000 in cash from his American friends. With the money, he bought two used pickup trucks, supplies, and food.

He categorically denies, however, that he hunts Al Qaeda or Taliban only for the money. He says the $80,000 wasn't even enough to buy his fighters new coats and feed them - much less pay them a salary.

He points out that the local price that Al Qaeda has put on the head of an American - $50,000 - is still more than the $40,000 that the Americans are offering for senior Taliban leaders and Al Qaeda fighters. "Just for the prisoners I'm holding, Al Qaeda is offering me - through their channels here in Ghazni - $10,000 each," he claims. "I'm capturing these guys because, first they are our enemies, and second, they are America's enemies."

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