|
|
Article: A dogged Taliban chief rebounds in Afghanistan, vexing US forces
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- October 11, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
|
WASHINGTON - In late 2001, Mullah Muhammad Omar's prospects
seemed utterly bleak. The ill-educated, one-eyed leader of the
Taliban had fled on a motorbike after his fighters were swiftly
routed by the Americans invading Afghanistan.
Much of the world celebrated his ouster, and Afghans cheered the
return of girls' education, music, and ordinary pleasures outlawed
by the grim fundamentalist government.
Eight years later, Omar is the leader of an insurgency that has
gained steady ground in much of Afghanistan against much better
equipped American and NATO forces.
Far from a historical footnote, he represents a vexing security
challenge for the Obama administration, one that has consumed the ...