Weary Taliban coming in from the cold

According to Commander Haider, the Taliban remain strong and united in their holy war against the "Jews and infidels."

"We are not ready for talks with NATO forces or the Americans," he says. "We want a pure Islamic system in Afghanistan and we will fight for it."

But to hear Mr. Rahman and Mr. Sarwar tell it, the war is less about ideology and religion than it is a battle between strongmen over control of land and trading routes.

Conscripted by the Taliban, they say they lost their orchards when warlords loyal to the Karzai government moved in. They faced going to jail when the new regime took power or staying on the run with the Taliban.

They say they are heartened by efforts to release Taliban prisoners deemed safe to society and trust that Karzai, also an ethnic Pashtun, is sincere.

But members of the mainly Tajik Northern Alliance, which Karzai roundly defeated in the elections, have voiced outrage. They argue that most moderate Taliban defected when the hard-line regime fell in late 2001, and point out that several former detainees have returned to fight with the Taliban since winning release in the amnesty's early stages.

Even some members of Karzai's government argue there should be an independent reconciliation panel, rather than the handful of mainly Pashtun security officials who currently determine who goes free. "I am not opposed to the plan in principle, but the way this is being done is worrisome," says a senior Afghan official who quietly disagrees with the current program. "Why do you think the Northern Alliance is refusing to disarm?"

Most critics see the silent hand of Pakistan, which long supported the Taliban regime and wants to see friendly faces in the new Afghan parliamentary government.

They say the fact that the Taliban pulled off no major attacks during the elections is more a sign that Pakistan "can turn the tap on and off at will," as one official says, than an indication, as suggested by amnesty supporters, that the Taliban is on its last legs.

But one Western diplomat says the amnesty program hinges largely on a promise by Pakistan to turn over hard-core Taliban fugitives if some moderates are allowed to go free, perhaps even to run for parliament. Many senior Taliban are believed to live in the western Pakistani city of Quetta and the tribal regions around it.

Whatever the outcome, many believe offering the Taliban an olive branch is a risk for Afghanistan's first-ever elected leader, one that could either inflame the tense ethnic divide between Tajiks and Pashtuns or draw thousands of low-level fighters out from the war on terror.

"If Karzai announces an amnesty, he will be very successful, and if he doesn't, we will carry on what we are doing now," says Sarwar, his black Taliban turban flapping in the wind. "Then it will be very difficult for him to rule this country."

• Ms. Peters reported from Kabul. Mr. Agha reported from Kandahar Province.

Page: 1 | 2