ZANGIABAD // A captured Taliban rifle dangling at his side, commander Sultan Mohammed swaggers through a bomb-cratered district that was once a hornet’s nest of insurgents, symbolising a rare Afghan military triumph where US forces failed.
Panjwai was one of the centrepieces of US president Barack Obama’s 2009 troop surge ambitiously aimed at crushing the Taliban, but the southern district soon became a poster child of the failed intervention.
Strongmen including Mr Mohammed, the Panjwai police chief with a reputation for brutality, have done what the Americans could not – tame the insurgent haven that had come to be known as the “blood fountain”.
The Taliban are now out of sight in the district of Kandahar province, pomegranate orchards stand on fields once awash with landmines, and poppy farms that boosted militant coffers are just a memory.
“When US forces were here, the Taliban were within one kilometre of their bases. Now they aren’t even within 100 kilometres,” Mr Mohammed said, trailed by armed loyalists.
“We did what American soldiers could not – rid the area of the Taliban.”
To get a full measure of the turnaround, one only needs to compare Panjwai with the turmoil gripping the wider region, which is increasingly drawing Nato troops back into the conflict a year after their combat mission ended.
Neighbouring opium-rich Helmand, Afghanistan’s largest province, is teetering on the brink of collapse.
Overstretched Afghan troops are retreating from volatile southern districts, ceding swathes of key areas to the Taliban.
And conflict-induced displacement is edging towards a new record as the Taliban now control more territory than in any year since 2001.
Panjwai offers a striking contrast: children in schools learning algebra instead of a Taliban curriculum, grape farmers tending their vines even after sundown, and once-wary visitors jaunting around on pheasant-hunting trips.
The transformation of Panjwai, the birthplace of the Taliban movement, defies the common perception that Afghan security forces – plagued by high casualties and desertions – cannot stand alone without Nato backing.
To its advantage, observers say Panjwai is not a messy froth of tribal and economic dynamics. And unlike neighbouring districts gripped by violence, it does not fall on a major drug trafficking route.
“Being a backwater has helped Panjwai achieve detente that has seen many local insurgent fighters return to farming,” said a Kabul-based Western official.
But the turnaround is also widely credited to anti-Taliban strongmen such as General Abdul Raziq, Kandahar’s powerful police chief who controls the province with an iron hand and is accused of running secret torture chambers, an allegation he denies.
“‘His brief to his men is simple: ‘Don’t bring the enemy alive’,” said an official close to Gen Raziq.
Last week the interior ministry said it was probing a graphic video apparently showing Mr Mohammed’s men abusing an alleged suicide bomber.
His hands bound to a police vehicle, the video which went viral shows the man being dragged along the road before a mob turns on him and one officer tries to bite the flesh off his arm.
To the supporters of Gen Raziq and Mr Mohammed, such savagery has made them a bulwark against the stubborn insurgency, more vital than ever as Afghanistan spirals into chaos.
But their success is spawning ever more brutality.
“If I catch a Taliban supporter planting a landmine, I will make him sit on it and blow him up,” said Serajuddin Afghanmal, a police official credited with clearing thousands of mines in Panjwai.
“The Americans thought they could restore security by floating balloons (surveillance blimps) in the air,” said Haji Mohammad, a policeman at an abandoned US base in Panjwai.
“But the insurgents were able to plant mines next to their bases. Whenever they stepped out their armoured cars turned into coffins.”
Analysts warn, however, that Panjwai’s gains are at risk of unravelling as forced eradication of poppy crops creates economic hardship and as violence spills over from neighbouring Helmand.
But, says Mr Mohammed, the battle for Panjwai was won on the day the last US soldiers pulled out.
“With the Americans gone, the Taliban have no moral justification to be here,” he said, clasping an M4 assault rifle snatched from the insurgents, now his personal weapon.
“Foreigners can prop us up with weapons but they don’t belong here. Only Afghans can really win Afghanistan’s war.”
* Agence France-Prese
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder MHEV
Power: 360bhp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh282,870
On sale: now
In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
John Heminway, Knopff
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Company profile
Company name: Nestrom
Started: 2017
Co-founders: Yousef Wadi, Kanaan Manasrah and Shadi Shalabi
Based: Jordan
Sector: Technology
Initial investment: Close to $100,000
Investors: Propeller, 500 Startups, Wamda Capital, Agrimatico, Techstars and some angel investors
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The five pillars of Islam
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
If you go
The flights
There are various ways of getting to the southern Serengeti in Tanzania from the UAE. The exact route and airstrip depends on your overall trip itinerary and which camp you’re staying at.
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Kilimanjaro International Airport from Dh1,350 return, including taxes; this can be followed by a short flight from Kilimanjaro to the Serengeti with Coastal Aviation from about US$700 (Dh2,500) return, including taxes. Kenya Airways, Emirates and Etihad offer flights via Nairobi or Dar es Salaam.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Quick%20facts
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Guns N’ Roses’s last gig before Abu Dhabi was in Hong Kong on November 21. We were there – and here’s what they played, and in what order. You were warned.
- It’s So Easy
- Mr Brownstone
- Chinese Democracy
- Welcome to the Jungle
- Double Talkin’ Jive
- Better
- Estranged
- Live and Let Die (Wings cover)
- Slither (Velvet Revolver cover)
- Rocket Queen
- You Could Be Mine
- Shadow of Your Love
- Attitude (Misfits cover)
- Civil War
- Coma
- Love Theme from The Godfather (movie cover)
- Sweet Child O’ Mine
- Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb cover)
- Wish You Were Here (instrumental Pink Floyd cover)
- November Rain
- Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden cover)
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan cover)
- Nightrain
Encore:
- Patience
- Don’t Cry
- The Seeker (The Who cover)
- Paradise City
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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