June 22nd, 2011
07:59 AM ET

Taliban back in town?

As President Obama is expected to announce in a speech Tuesday that 30,000 U.S. "surge" forces will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of 2012, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh takes a look at one town in Afghanistan. A flag flies openly, the white banner of the Taliban. The message: we, the Taliban, are back in power here. Small Taliban fiefdoms are popping up while NATO's surge is at full strength, leaving many wondering what they'll do as NATO starts to leave?

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Filed under: Taliban
soundoff (4 Responses)
  1. pamiri

    please cnn site it is not my comments under the name of pamiri some one is misusing my screen name, responsibel person please recognize him and remove or changes his screen name, to do not allow hi/her screen name,

    from Kabul

    June 23, 2011 at 5:45 am | Report abuse |
  2. salerno

    It is not clear if the insurgency is rappresented by the Taliban or by the Americans. It looks like the Taliban have returned order again to the place. "Schools and hospitals are open again (under Sharya law)," and smoking is forbidden because it is toxic. I don't see any problem. If people or even americans want to smoke or to commit crimes can go to their country.

    June 22, 2011 at 9:33 am | Report abuse |
  3. andrew lubin

    he's correct...but he's not. Nick's writing from RC East, where the US Army and NATO is doing poorly in the fight, and yes, the Taliban is very active and unfortunately successful. However I've just returned from 5 weeks in RC Southwest with US Marines, where large areas are under control of ANA, schools have jumped from 2 children attneding to 50, and farmers grow wheat instead of poppy. An entirely different dynamic – a successful one – in RC Southwest.

    June 22, 2011 at 8:05 am | Report abuse |
    • p3c3

      Interesting. What accounts for the difference?

      June 22, 2011 at 2:35 pm | Report abuse |
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