Free Republic

KHOST, AFGHANISTAN (April 27, 2003 6:07 p.m. EDT) - For the past year, Hazratuddin Habibi has been the intelligence chief of Khost, appointed by President Hamid Karzai to keep an eye on Taliban or al-Qaida activities in this crucial province along the Pakistani border. Hazratuddin, a former intelligence chief for the Taliban known by his first name, was certainly qualified for the job. But colleagues in the central government's intelligence agency, Amniat, and in other military departments began to notice that raids on Taliban hideouts were coming up empty. Arrests of al-Qaida suspects went awry. It occurred to local political...