The American strategy for handing over security responsibilities to the Afghan government rests on a similar strategy: putting local militias on the government payroll. Such \u201crecruits\u201d\u009d are supposed to be vetted. But in the months it will take to complete that process, American commanders are counting on ragtag militias like Rozeboi\u2019s to fight the Taliban.<\/p>\n
Many of the militias are controlled by strongmen who traffic in drugs and weapons and pay their soldiers by taxing the locals, as the Taliban do. Indeed, several militias in Kunduz fought alongside the Taliban before switching to the government\u2019s side.<\/p>\n
Can the Karzai government provide the food, clothing and salaries needed to keep those militias friendly? \u201cIf they do not have income, they will return to their old bosses,\u201d\u009d the mayor of Imam Sahib, Sufi Manaan, warned American officers in February. He should know. Some American commanders believe that he has links to a militia that fought against their soldiers last fall.<\/p>\n