December 6, 2001	Thursday	Ramazan 20, 1422

BALKH (Afghanistan): Shir Ahmad stands in a muddy courtyard, fiddling with the dials on his American-made two-way radio. Three days ago, he was a farmer. Now, he is a military commander. “The Taliban left here the night before last. Yesterday I became a soldier. Now I command 50 men,” he said. Power changed hands in this ancient town in traditional Afghan fashion over the last three days. Soldiers gathered. Talks were held. Threats were exchanged. Allegiances shifted. Weapons and perhaps money moved around. Then it was over. A new set of men was in charge. And outsiders were mystified.

“Until yesterday, this area was under the control of the Taliban,” said Samaruddin, who sells groceries near the centre of town, trying to explain to visitors. “The people who had weapons were Taliban, so the people were Taliban. Now there are no Taliban here, so we are not Taliban anymore.”

For days, Northern Alliance leaders had been warning that trouble was brewing in Balkh, the capital of the Bactria empire and, according to legend, the birthplace of the ancient philosopher Zoroaster.

After the fall of the Taliban’s northern stronghold of Kunduz nine days ago, as many as 2,000 Taliban warriors were believed to have taken refuge within city walls that locals say are as old as the philosopher himself.

These days, this city is a mostly ethnic Pakhtoon town in a region that is otherwise dominated by Uzbeks. The Taliban have drawn much of their support from Pakhtoons, so it was natural for them to retreat to the protection of Balkh’s Pakhtoon commanders. Alliance commanders led by Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum pressed the commanders to surrender, backing their demands with threats of military action. They massed more than 1,000 troops outside town on Monday and prepared to move in, but then suddenly backed off.

Instead, locals say, a smaller Northern Alliance force entered, apparently following an agreement with the Pakhtoon leaders. They went to the homes of various commanders, and confiscated 500 weapons, said Gen. Abdul Satar Arghon. He said that means 500 Taliban soldiers had surrendered.

There was little sign of non-Afghan Taliban members. Most of the fighters who surrendered were local men, and they had been living in their own homes and with their own families. Some were from other parts of Afghanistan, including the Taliban’s southern strongholds in Kandahar and Helmand provinces. One of them was Asad Doolah, who said he was gang-pressed by the Taliban from his home in central Oruzgan province and sent to defend Kunduz. When the Taliban abandoned Kunduz, he fled with the forces of Mullah Shamok, a warlord from Balkh. For a week he camped out at Mullah Shamok’s house, until they got word they were pulling out in order to surrender.

As the convoy moved, he recalled, a few cars separated and drove to the former bank building that was the local commandant’s headquarters. Mullah Shamok joined Dostum’s faction, local officials said, and has moved back to his home village, a free man. Doolah was arrested by the Northern Alliance and incarcerated in a one-room mud-walled hut with 23 of his comrades.

He does not exactly call it a double-cross. But it is clear he does not know why he was suddenly abandoned. “The Taliban left, and they left me behind,” he says looking a bit bewildered. Arghon says it would be wrong to consider Mullah Shamok’s actions a betrayal or the former Taliban fighters the enemy. “After they surrender, they are no longer our enemies,” he said. “They are all our people. They are not our enemies.” —Dawn/LAT-WP News Service (c) Los Angeles Times.