Handley proves that seeing is believing

As I sat at my desk and later at a table Saturday afternoon witnessing Auburn get dismantled in Baton Rouge by LSU, the comparisons to the contest I’d seen the night before began to flow through my mind.

There was Auburn, the defending national champions, getting absolutely blasted on the road much in the same way Leeds, the 2010 Class 3A state champions, got it handed to them in a 46-0 loss to Handley in Roanoke. But Auburn’s beatdown was somewhat expected. (Note: Those of you who thought the outcome would be impacted by the absence of those three suspended players were tripping — hard.) Leeds going into Handley’s Wright Field was supposed to be the AHSAA’s version of what everyone is anticipating in November 5th’s matchup between LSU and Alabama will be in Tuscaloosa, or at least somewhat close to it.

It wasn’t. And it had more to do with how good Handley (9-0) is than it did with how Leeds (7-2, 5-2) played.

Witnessing the manner in which Handley handled or “manhandled”, as Green Wave coach Keith Etheredge described it, you got the sense that if the two teams squared off 100 more times the outcome wouldn’t be that much different.

The Tigers have a stable of backs, including Breyon Deberry, Duran Zachery, Quay Hunter, Chris Dillard and Herbert Staples who could compete for a starting job most anywhere in The Star’s coverage area.

That’s not to mention quarterback Trae Kyles, who’s just as good a runner as anyone he hands the ball off to. And they’ve all got gaping holes to run through with an offensive line led by 2013 Alabama commitment 6-foot-, 315-pound left tackle Bradley Bozeman.

I knew they were good but seeing them in person opened my eyes to their potential greatness. A radio show called me after the game and asked me how I thought a matchup between Handley and top-ranked Piedmont might go in the state title game if it happens. It’s something I’ve pondered before.

I couldn’t come to a conclusion: “Whoever gets Handley in the playoffs is going to have their hands full and whoever gets Piedmont in the playoffs is going to have their hands full,” I said.

• DEBERRY’S STATUS: Deberry, Handley’s leading rusher, carried the ball nine times for 91 yards in the first half against Leeds but went down with an injury on the first play of the second half and didn’t return.

Monday, Handley coach Mike Battles said Deberry saw a doctor on Saturday and the diagnosis was a sprained right ankle. Battles said he wasn’t certain that the 5-foot-8, 183-pounder would play Friday against Class 2A Lineville (7-2) but added “He’s going to be OK.”

• SCHEDULING CHANGE: Alexandria’s Week 10 matchup at Lincoln, originally scheduled for Thursday, has been moved to Friday. Alexandria (6-3) principal Ronald Chambless called The Star Monday to inform us of the change.

But don’t fret football fans.

There will still be plenty of action on deck Thursday.

Here’s Thursday’s local slate.

Briarwood Christian (8-1) at Anniston (7-2); Coosa Christian (2-6) at Weaver (6-3); Clay County (8-1) at Saks (6-2) Ranburne (4-5) at T.C. Central (3-6) and Spring Garden (2-7) at Sand Rock (5-4).

Nick Birdsong covers prep sports for The Star. He can be reached at 256-235-3575. Follow him on Twitter @birds_word.

Source http://annistonstar.com/bookmark/16161337-Seeing-is-believing

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

With concerns about the lack of signings and the seeming inability to get rid of players we don't want it strikes me that the transfer market has become something of a no win situation for a club like ours.

We have problems getting the players we want because someone else can always offer more. As the Modric situation has demonstrated even when we get past that hurdle, either by finding a bargain or developing a talent, the sharks start circling. Again others can offer much higher wages. Even if we profit on the transfer fees it`s no way to build a successful team. That takes time, if there is a constant change of playing staff which is outside the club's control any kind of settled squad becomes impossible.

That's half the problem. The other half is getting rid of players you don't want. Some fans seem eager to spend big on dubious talent. But as Keane is now showing, an overpaid player becomes a real problem when he doesn't perform. Anyone who can afford his wages can buy better, anyone who might want him can't match what he's earning and he is entitled to see out his contract then walk as a free agent. The club is left trying to walk a tightrope. You need players who are good enough to move the team on while at the same time you don't want to lock in players on high wages for fear they may turn into future Robbie Keane's.

In the background is the threat that any talent you do sign will quickly become a target for someone with more money. We are between a rock and a hard place. There's no complete answer to this but a few things are obvious. One is that the more of your own talent you can develop the better, you will at least get a few seasons out of them before the sharks move in plus, if necessary, you will be able to move them on fairly easily.

Another is that a strong, workmanlike squad with no superstars is better than a squad with a few real talents and not much else. This is simply because it`s the superstars you can't hold on to if they succeed and who become overpaid dead weight if they fail. Instead focus on developing strength in depth and a team ethic, don't worry about beating the top teams, worry about beating everybody else.

This brings me to the third point, if we could do that we would have a very good chance of regular Champions League football which would automatically improve our chance of signing and keeping quality players. Without a bigger stadium we are trying to punch above our weight, something many fans seem reluctant to admit, if we want to do that we need to recognise the reality of our situation and just how difficult the transfer market is.

Source http://www.spurs.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=7509544

Liberty University's Johnnie Moore: Hell is Terrible, Believing It Exists Is Not

Everyone seems interested in Hell at the moment. Having to watch Charlie Sheen endlessly this week has certainly put us all through a bit of it.

It's fascinating to watch as Christianity's most abhorred doctrine has lit up the social network and sparked veritable wars in the blogosphere. People are sparring over the strangest kind of theology so passionately that you'd think people actually still care about spiritual things in modern America.

The truth is that they do, and this debate is evidence of it. It makes plenty of sense that people would be interested in Hell. The stakes are, after all, pretty high for all of us.

This isn't a conversation about whether you like your religion cerebral or celebratory, or whether you think Jesus would have voted for Barack Obama (or not). This is a conversation about whether you're going to be incinerated by God. This isn't religion for the faint of heart - no Deepak Chopra here.

I happen to be one of those who think God will eventually incinerate some people, and I'm sure you'd expect that from someone from Liberty University, but before I fall prey to your prejudice, let me explain who I am and my position.

I'm a young, twenty-something Christian.

I pretty well fit the external mold of this mysterious new ilk of "young evangelicals." I wear skinny jeans when I preach in a service that seems to some like a rock show. I sometimes work very hard at making my messy hairdo look like I did absolutely nothing to it, and a lot of folks think I don't care about the "gospel" because I also care about fatherless children in our inner cities and poor babies with bloated bellies in Africa and the abuse of women through sex slavery around the world. Neither the right-wingers nor the left-wingers quite know what to do with evangelicals like me.

I don't look the part of a harbinger for truth with a capital "T."

I'm happy, not angry, when I talk about Jesus or "truth."

I'm totally, obsessively pro-life but I don't like to use the word "murder" to describe abortion because I'm concerned about how that makes the young women I've met feel after they realize their mistake.

I believe in absolute truth but I don't wield it like a sword, because I know that I have a hard time following truth sometimes and I'm, like you, always a hypocrite in transition.

I believe preachers ought to be prophets to culture, but I'm the type of prophet that's more apt to "whisper" truth in a tender way than scream it from the mountaintops lest my voice crowd out the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit. I believe Jesus is the only way to heaven, but I've had really wonderful, delightful conversations with Hindus and Buddhists in the Himalayan hometown of the Dalai Lama and in India's enshrined city of Varanasi. In fact, I prefer the generosity and hospitality of Muslims over many stuffy, reclusive evangelicals I've met, and I actually think that Jesus was a pretty nice guy who'd like us to follow Him and His example of loving others rather than erecting barrier after barrier of disagreement that divide us from Him. We sometimes call those barriers, religion. After all, as we were reminded in a recent popular book, those who follow Jesus "come from every system that exists."

I also believe that every person who doesn't trust in Jesus is going to Hell.

I'm not happy about that.

In fact, that realization is what motivates me everyday.

But it's my only option. I believe in Jesus. I trust what he said, and he spoke as much about the subject of hell as almost any other. Matthew, the former Roman IRS agent who converted to Jesus, recalled one particular moment when Jesus said, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in Hell." (Matthew 10:28)

This is why I spend so much of my time writing, teaching, and travelling around the world making sure that people have the chance to know the grace of a God whose death and resurrection has built a bridge from death to life. It the Apostle Paul who jested to King Agrippa, "Why should any of you think it incredible that God raises the dead?"

For me, it would be intellectual, spiritual cruelty for me to believe otherwise.

If you don't believe in Hell please understand, as an orthodox, evangelical that I'm not angry with you. I'm concerned about you, and like C. S. Lewis, the brilliant scholar and apologist, I believe that the gate to hell is locked from the inside, not from the outside.

I would do almost anything to get you to believe. I don't speak about hell because I'm mean and angry. I speak about it because I'm concerned for people, deeply, deeply concerned.

And here's what's even stranger ... if I'm wrong, it's ok by me. At least I've poured my life out for the good of others and I'll either way enjoy God's grace. And isn't that what Pascal suggested we should wager?

It's belief or damnation. That's an awfully big gamble.

Source http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/civil-religion/sharon-autenrieth/article_fa069c48-5ace-11e0-b3b5-0017a4a78c22.html

40 Bands not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Year after year a handful of musicians get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, while dozens of equally-talented artists get snubbed. This year Alice Cooper, Tom Waits, and Neil Diamond were well-deserving choices, but it’s always hard for fans not to be upset about their favorite bands being left out -- and there are plenty of fans to be upset since the best bands not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame include these legends:

Rush

Kids today think Justin Bieber is the best thing to come out of Canada, oblivious to the awesomeness of this nerd rock band with hits like “Tom Sawyer.”

The Doobie Brothers

This swamp rock band with down-home hits like “Black Water” also is deserving of a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame -- some of their biggest fans back in the day were the Hells Angels, and they’re named after reefer. What’s more rock and roll than that?

Joe Cocker

How is this legend that performed at Woodstock not in the Hall of Fame? His performance of “With a Little Help From My Friends” is still chill-inducing to this day (an no rocker convulsed quite the way he did onstage).

Peter Frampton

And here’s another of the biggest names not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Frampton ruled the world back in the 70’s with his talk box and songs like “Baby, I Love Your Way” (here’s a bit of trivia: Peter and Lois reveal that this is their song on “Family Guy”).

Heart

The ladies deserve some love, too, especially since it was quite a bit harder for them to make it in the world of rock. And no one rocked harder than the band behind “Barracuda.”

Electric Light Orchestra

This symphonic, supersonic band lives up to their psychedelic name with songs like “Strange Magic.”

Foreigner

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is as “Cold as Ice” for neglecting this “Hot Blooded” band, and it’s “Urgent” that they get inducted ASAP.

Journey

Sure “Don’t Stop Believing” gets butchered a little too much at karaoke bars around the world, but there’s a reason it’s so beloved.

Steppenwolf

The band behind the song that will forever conjure images of the open road, freedom, and choppers is still being kept down by the man (that’s what happens when you’re “Born to be Wild”).

Steve Miller Band

Apparently “Joker,” “Take the Money and Run,” “Jungle Love,” and “Rock’n Me” just aren’t enough to get this Heartland rock band on the list.

KISS

Has a band ever marketed itself better?

Cheap Trick

They want the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to want them.

Deep Purple

These heavy metal innovators are responsible for one of every aspiring guitar player’s favorite riffs in “Smoke on the Water.”

Bad Company

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame doesn’t see the guys behind one of the most romantic rock songs ever, “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” as good company.

The Cars

You can thank The Cars for bringing to mind an image of a topless Phoebe Cates every time “Moving in Stereo” plays.

Yes

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame keeps saying no to this progressive rock band behind “Owner of a Lonely Heart.”

The Moody Blues

This innovative band is responsible for the romantic song “Nights in White Satin” (maybe it’s a bit too romantic and moving for the Hall of Fame?).

Chicago

If one of the biggest hit makers in the world (“25 or 6 to 4,” “If You Leave Me Now,” “Saturday in the Park”) can’t make the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, then who can?

Joan Jett

Another of the biggest women in rock has shown her love for rock and roll, but she’s getting none in return from the Hall of Fame.

Jethro Tull

When you can seamlessly blend a flute with hard rock music (as in “Aqualung”), you definitely belong in the Hall of Fame.

The Cure

Come on! Robert Smith defeated Mecha-Streisand!

Warren Zevon

For gals that don’t care for shirtless werewolves who fight over sickly-looking human girls with angsty vampires, check out a song about real werewolves -- the kind that from London that eat Chinese food and mutilate little old ladies.

Beastie Boys

You gotta love the way these boys rock their ‘staches and ‘80s sunglasses in the “Sabotage” video, as well as how the joke that was “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)” went over every frat boy’s head. But they really deserve a spot in the Hall of Fame for combining rock and rap and being taken seriously.

Thin Lizzy

There would be no Metallica without Irish band Thin Lizzy and their “Whiskey in a Jar.”

Iron Maiden

Heavy metal bands with dark songs like “The Number of the Beast” aren’t getting much love from the Hall of Fame right now, but might in the future.

Todd Rundgren

Hello! Can’t this “Hello It’s Me” singer get a little love after inspiring so many to trade pencil pushing for banging on drums all day?

The Pogues

The band behind the best Christmas song ever definitely deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame.

Johnny Ace

It doesn’t get more rock and roll than killing yourself during a game of Russian roulette. But Ace’s “Pledging my Love” is also as beautiful and romantic as a song can get.

George Thorogood and the Destroyers

The man behind one of the best bar bands ever needs to buy each of the powers that be responsible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame one bourbon, one scotch, and one beer each while they listen to his entertaining tale.

Blue Oyster Cult

“(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” is one of the darkest, most romantic love songs of all time, but it’s also got a guitar solo that the reaper himself could rock out to (however, it could always use more cowbell).

The Guess Who

American women everywhere should be outraged that this Canadian band isn’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins

It's Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and he's a wild man, so bug off.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

This band recently became eligible, so it’s likely they’ll eventually get in.

Depeche Mode

How can you “Enjoy the Silence” with bands like this in the world?

Supertramp

It’s only logical that this band will get in the Hall of Fame some day.

Pantera

“Groove” metal deserves a little love in the Hall of Fame, and nobody shredded better than Dimebag Darrell (you gotta love that the Cowboys from Hell were guest musicians on “Spongebob Squarepants”).

Stevie Ray Vaughn

One of the best blues guitarists in the biz is another late, great musician from Texas deserving of a spot in the Hall of Fame.

Judas Priest

Never has “Breaking the Law” sounded like so much fun.

Three Dog Night

When you think “Joy to the World,” you should be thinking of this band’s song (and you better be listening to your mama when she tells you not to go to that party).

Hall and Oates

Has there ever been a more cheerful love song than “You Make My Dreams?” And has there been a sweeter ‘stache than Oates’ lady tickler?

Of course, just as the Hall of Fame has let so many musicians fall through the cracks, there are probably some missing on this list, but these forty bands are a good start.

Source  http://www.examiner.com/trends-in-los-angeles/40-bands-not-the-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame

Could Obama decide a deficit deal is in his interest?

Mocked for the timidity of his proposed 2012 budget, President Obama appeared before reporters last week to insist that he is open to serious deficit reduction beyond what's laid out in his plan. People in Washington are so impatient, he complained. Why would anyone think that his 2,403-page fiscal prescription, released the day before, was his last word on the subject?

The co-chairmen of his fiscal commission, whose bipartisan success Obama had ignored in his proposal, welcomed the rhetorical opening. "Sadly, the president does punt on the larger issues," they wrote in a Sunday op-ed for The Post.

"And yet, he's right: A bipartisan process is where this must start," Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson added. "The real test is whether he follows through on these good intentions."

What are the odds of that? If Obama were serious about Social Security reform but believed that going first with a proposal would hurt its chances, he presumably would be laying the groundwork by speaking honestly about the challenge.

Instead, so far, we have the opposite. Obama had a plan to strengthen Social Security when he ran for president, but now his budget director suggests there's no rush.

The president's own formula is painfully coy: "I believe we should strengthen Social Security for future generations, and I think we can do that without slashing benefits or putting current retirees at risk." His repeated invocation of the verb "slash" is evidently meant to signal to reformers that he would be open to something less draconian - adjust? modify? tweak? - while reassuring voters that he will stand up to evil Republicans seeking to take away their Social Security benefits.

This is particularly cynical because there's no need to "slash" benefits; a modest adjustment in the formula by which benefits grow, to ensure that future middle- and upper-income earners aren't receiving more (in inflation-adjusted dollars) than today's retirees, would go a long way toward solving that program's problems.

Obama went on to say, "But, look, I was glad to see yesterday Republican leaders say, 'How come you didn't talk about entitlements?' I think that's progress." In fact, Republican ideologues present many obstacles to budget reform: their aversion to ever raising taxes, their opposition to some of the most promising mechanisms for controlling health-care costs. But a refusal to discuss entitlements isn't one of them; it is ideologues in Obama's party who are reluctant to put entitlements, especially Social Security, on the table.

If Obama intended to fulfill Bowles's and Simpson's hopes, you'd also expect to find him speaking with some sense of urgency. "But what I think is important to do is not discount the tough choices that are required just to stabilize the situation," Obama told reporters last Tuesday. "My goal is, is that a year from now or two years from now, people look back and say, you know what, we actually started making progress on this issue."

"Started making progress" can mean different things to different people. But a year from now, the presidential primary season will be well underway. Two years from now, Obama could be out of office. If progress isn't made soon, it's not likely, at least in his first term.

Obama cites his December deal with Republicans as evidence of his openness to bipartisan cooperation. But agreeing to give away more money is never all that hard in Washington. Republicans got to expand the deficit their way (keeping tax cuts for the rich) and Obama got to expand it his way (cutting payroll taxes for the middle class). He won a giant additional stimulus to enhance his reelection prospects and fattened the national debt by another trillion or so.

In fact, if the "hard choices" he likes to talk about involve compromising in any way his political prospects or spending his political popularity to achieve fiscal sanity, there's zero evidence so far. His budget contains a few token cuts (10 percent in community development block grants, a couple billion dollars in heating-oil subsidies that will most discomfit Republican senators from New England) that allow him to claim a centrist mantle. To the extent he achieves operating balance, it's with the usual gimmicks: a rosy economic forecast; cuts that stretch over 10 years - past even a second term - to pay for spending during the next two. A magical pot of money for transportation, with no mention of its source. His State of the Union address was a campaign speech about contrast, not cooperation: Democrats want to win the future; Republicans want to starve it.

So here's the hope: A bipartisan group of senators, led by Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), comes up with a plausible plan for serious deficit reduction - and Obama decides that hitching his wagon to it might help him in 2012. It might not fit the definition of leadership, but it now seems like the only chance for progress in the next two years.

Source http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/20/AR2011022002481.html

Naperville singer to perform at Rock 'n Roll Ball

The residents of The Birches will enjoy the Rock ‘n Roll Ball with entertainer Liz Goss at 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24, at The Birches, 215 55th St., Clarendon Hills. The public is welcome at this free event.

A resident of Naperville, Goss is a singer who loves all genres of music. Frequently, she is a singer with a big band at a local ballroom.

As a small girl she adored dancing and nothing set off her twinkle toes like the June Taylor Dancers on the old Jackie Gleason Show. Dancing changed to singing, and she credits a family who always loved music.

She had a career in middle management, but eventually the daily grind was too much. Around age 50, she quit and made a decision to do only the things she loves.

“Retirement communities are my favorite audiences,” Goss said. “I connect with older people. I love that generation – the old movies, the old music. I was born too late, and I wished I’d been an adult in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s.”

The Birches Assisted Living is dedicated to providing caring and professional assisted living services that assure its residents safety, security and comfort. Located in Clarendon Hills, The Birches offers a full calendar of programs and activities designed to promote a stimulating and rewarding retirement lifestyle.

The public is invited to this free event. For more information, call Carol Weigel at 630-789-1135 or go to: or visit http://www.birches.net.

Source http://triblocal.com/naperville/community/stories/2011/02/naperville-singer-to-perform-at-rock-n-roll-ball/

Soft Sufi, hard-rock militant

The reason for the al-Qaeda-led militancy's success in the South Asia region is twofold. Al-Qaeda delegated resistance operations to Ibnul Balad (sons of the soil), and it restricted its connections to a select command and promoted its ideological and strategic framework to that group. Al-Qaeda never tried to approach the grassroot-level insurgency.

Secondly, al-Qaeda modified its structures according to local customs and traditions.

Al-Qaeda is using a similar strategy in northern Afghanistan and

 

Central Asia, the home of Sufi Islam.

In classical philosophical interpretation, Sufi Islam gazes on spiritual eternity, while Salafi Islam eyes the temporal aspects of reality. The fusion of Salafism and Sufism has rarely emerged in Muslim history, but when it has happened it has been during a foreign invasion, as in Libya where Omar Mukhtar led the local resistance to Italian control of the country in the early 1900s.

Another example is the Muslim Brotherhood. Its founder, Hasan al-Banna, belonged to the Sufi school of Hasafia, and he declared the Brotherhood both a Sufi and a Salafi movement.

The phenomenon is so rare that no foreign actor, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), alien to the evolution of Muslim thinking, could contemplate the possible blending of these apparently contradictory ideas.

NATO has largely deployed non-combatant troops in northern Afghanistan, believing that all the fighting has to be done in the Pashtun-dominated southern areas. The Barack Obama administration's war reviews have not placed much emphasis on the situation in northern Afghanistan, with most plans centered on restive Helmand province and other southern areas.

NATO considers the Taliban a Pashtun movement under the influence of a Salafi al-Qaeda, and it estimated there was little chance for the emergence of the Taliban in northern Afghanistan, which is dominated by ethnic Hazaras, Tajiks and Uzbeks and which is close to the Shi'ite sect, Sufism and secular trends.

They rightly understood that if the Taliban controlled the region in the late 1990s (when they were in control in Kabul), it was due to their military might and with the help of the local Pashtun minority.
There were other reasons to believe an enduring rout of the Taliban in the north.

After the US invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, the Taliban were easily defeated in northern Afghanistan - they were killed, arrested or escaped to southern Afghanistan or the Pakistani tribal areas across the border. They didn't find a single refuge or sanctuary in the north that would have given them a chance to make a comeback.

Several proposals have been put forward based on the assumption that the Taliban would never flourish in the north. These include the Balkanization of Afghanistan, as suggested by American think-tanks, including the division of Afghanistan along ethnic lines between north and south. Another proposal, discussed in the late 2000s, was to allow Taliban rule in southern areas, while yet another idea that is still under discussion is that after 2014, American forces would only be stationed in the north to keep themselves away from active combat operations.

After their defeat, the Taliban didn't attempt to make a comeback in the north - mainly as most of their leaders and commanders from the north had been arrested or been killed or had fled to Pakistan. The Taliban also did not have much grassroot following to tap into.

However, there were a few seedlings in the form of mosques and madrassas (seminaries), built or strengthened during the years of Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001. At the same time, there were Uzbeks and Tajiks from Afghanistan in Pakistan's South Waziristan and North Waziristan tribal areas. Last and not least, there was an extremely isolated Pashtun population in the north.

In the decade after the fall of the Taliban, massive resentment built up against the foreign occupation forces, which regarded Pashtuns as "allies of terrorists" and boosted northern warlords as friends in the "war on terror".

Mosques and madrassas fueled the unhappiness with the foreign forces, which helped Taliban leaders from north to reconnect with the people and start operations in 2007-08.

Al-Qaeda, meanwhile, had cultivated the Uzbeks and Tajiks in the tribal areas in preparation for capitalizing on the foundations the Taliban were laying for an insurgency in the north - they were to broaden the insurgency across all ethnic groups in the north as well as become active in the neighboring Central Asian republics.

Soft Sufi, hard-rock militant
Qari Mustafa has the typical characteristics of a Taliban militant; long curly hair and beard and a strong build. However, I did not detect behind his glasses the usual steely look of a militant; the eagle eyes always on the lookout for trouble. Mustafa's eyes had a strange calm, which was soon explained.

I visited Mustafa, 26, in a mud house where he was spending the winter, away from Baghlan province about 200 kilometers north of Kabul, as during the cold and snowy season the war almost comes to a halt. The Taliban commander was staying in a khankha, a place where Sufis live in seclusion for maraqaba - contemplation and other rituals.

"Are you a Sufi?" I asked as I eyed pictures and portraits in the room of Mecca and Medina - the two most sacred Muslim places situated in today's Saudi Arabia. A picture of a heart also hung on the wall, signifying the concept of tazkia (purity of heart).

"Yes, I am a Sufi," Mustafa replied.

His response set me thinking. Central Asia has traditionally been the home of Sufism, especially Naqashbandi Sufis, who revolted many times against the occupation of the republics during the time of the former Soviet Union. These Sufi circles became the underground Islamic movements in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan that formed strong opposition to the ruling classes.

"You must be Naqashbandi," I said.

"Yes, I am," Mustafa replied, adding that Pir Bahaijan Agha of Ghazni in Afghanistan was his spiritual guide. "It's not only me, all top commanders from Baghlan and Kunduz hail from the Naqashbandi school of thought or from the Qardri school," Mustafa added.

Coming from the village of Qarah Daqa in Baghlan, Mustafa received his religious education in the province's Doshi district and then from a seminary in Haripur, Pakistan. He was too young during the Taliban regime to be a part of the movement, and he did not participate in the resistance to the US invasion in 2001.

"I finished my studies and I was working as a prayer leader and a teacher in my village mosque. Then some of my old friends as well as some of my teachers from the madrassa convinced me that this was not the time to sit in a mosque. This was the time to rise against the foreign occupation forces. I left the mosque and became a part of the Taliban."

Mustafa's journey with the Taliban began, by his account, in 2005. He was an ordinary foot soldier and took part in sporadic attacks in the north. By 2007, the Taliban had attracted so many people that they could form enough groups for limited guerrilla warfare in the north. At this point, a few dozen Taliban, including Mustafa, were given the task of recruitment.

"I went to Kunduz, Baghlan and Samangan. I met all my old madrassa friends, my relations, and within a few months I had gathered 30 trusted fellows. I became a commander," Mustafa said.

"This is just the core group. They are regular Taliban. Let me explain how we work. We have informers all across the region. They provide us with information about a target. Most of the time it is the arrival time or the route of a NATO supply convoy. Sometimes it is about the movements of the Afghan National Army, the police or NATO forces. And sometimes it is about attacking a military base," Mustafa said.

"For any particular operation, we often ask the people related to those who are part of our group - relatives or friends - to support our operation, and this is the way in which we increase our numerical strength. These are people who work as farmers or laborers in the day and then participate in operations as the Taliban with us during the night," Mustafa said, adding that after an attack the local population always provided hiding places.

Mustafa maintained that the total strength of the Taliban in Baghlan province was about 2,000, but if the irregulars he mentioned are added, the strength would increase at least three times.

"The local population's support is the real strength behind the Taliban. Earlier, their charity went to the madrassas, but now it all goes to the Taliban. Similarly, when we plan any big operation, local businessmen become our sponsors. We ask them for the money and they are always generous enough to meet our demands," Mustafa said.

Mustafa then showed cell-phone video footage of a Taliban attack on a military base in Kunduz.

"At the moment, all cities are controlled by the government and all regions along with mountains are under the control of the Taliban. However, in winter we evacuate much of those areas as well. This is for two reasons. The snow on the mountains makes our movement difficult; similarly, all trees lose their leaves during the winter and we lose our camouflage in the thick jungles of Baghlan. Therefore, we have to leave our regions and take refuge in southern border areas," Mustafa said.

"Are the Taliban only Pashtuns?" I asked.

"They are the majority, but the situation is changing a lot. Almost 20% of our people now belong to ethnic Tajik and Uzbek communities living in northern Afghanistan. Our connection is the madrassas. We all studied together, and after the US invasion we convinced them to take part in resistance."

Mustafa confirmed that a good number of fighters were also coming from Chechnya, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Russia.

"Russia? You mean from Chechnya? I asked.

Mustafa took out his cell-phone and opened it to a picture of a bearded man with long hair and a cap, which made it difficult to distinguish his ethnicity.

"He is Khatab. My friend. He was from Russia. He converted to Islam and joined us for jihad. One year ago, he was killed in battle," Mustafa said.

I questioned Mustafa on how their ideological counterparts in Uzbekistan, Chechnya, Tajikistan and Russia connected with the Taliban in northern Afghanistan.

"I can tell you that there is an active connection between the Central Asian command and the Taliban in northern Afghanistan and they often join us, but how they connect, this is beyond my level. Our superior commanders are in touch with their counterparts in Central Asia and if somebody arrives in Afghanistan or goes to Central Asia from Afghanistan, it is arranged at a senior leadership level," Mustafa said.

I tried to turn the discussion to global trends in Islamic militancy, but it appeared this was not Mustafa's forte. His vision and understanding were limited to northern Afghanistan. He knew al-Qaeda not as strategists, but as fellow jihadis. However, he was clear-headed on two counts; al-Qaeda had established bases in Kunduz province, and the war had to enter Uzbekistan, sooner or later.

"Uzbekistan is the center of all activities against us. All supplies come through Uzbekistan, and all other support for NATO is also from Uzbekistan, and therefore to overwhelm NATO we will have to take our war to Uzbekistan to force them to give up their support to NATO," Mustafa said in very plain and simple words about a future dimension of the Afghan war. 

Source  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MA22Df01.html