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Elizabeth Palmer of CBS, who reported from Kabul on Wednesday on the United States' plan for military reinforcements in Afghanistan, now turns to the training of the local army: 6,000 recruits go through basic training every ten weeks. She warned that it is a "country of fragile loyalties" and that some of the new soldiers "could quite easily switch sides." Palmer also pointed out that the Taliban is not the same party that governed the country in 2001. "The organization splintered and has become much more complex" since it was ousted from power. Rather than a coherent group, the so-called Taliban is "a shifting web" including Islamic extremists, fighters who "hate foreigners," drug smugglers and "villagers just desperate for a job."
Andrew Tyndall 1/26/09 4:23:33 pm

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