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Article: In ancient settlement of Balkh, shifting loyalties bring new problems.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- December 7, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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BALKH, Afghanistan _ When this week began, Shir Ahmad was a simple farmer, tilling a plot outside of the small city of Balkh, one of the oldest known settlements in the world.
That was when the Taliban still held sway in the town, about 12 miles west of the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.
Now Ahmad is a minor lieutenant under ethnic Uzbek warlord Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, the most powerful man in northern Afghanistan.
"The Taliban got out of here the night before last," Ahmad said, standing in the mud along with a dozen other northern alliance fighters outside a former bank that serves as a local military headquarters. "Now I command 50 men."
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