MAZE TALIBANI DIWAS

ABDUL ZAEEF DESCRIBES GROWING UP IN POVERTY IN RURAL KANDAHAR PROVINCE WHICH HE FLED FOR PAKISTAN AFTER THE RUSSIAN INVASION OF 1979. ZAEEF JOINED THE JIHAD IN 1983 WAS SERIOUSLY WOUNDED IN SEVERAL ENCOUNTERS AND MET MANY LEADING FIGURES OF THE RESISTANCE INCLUDING THE CURRENT TALIBAN HEAD MULLAH MOHAMMAD OMAR. DISGUSTED BY THE LAWLESSNESS THAT ENSUED AFTER THE SOVIET WITHDRAWAL ZAEEF WAS ONE AMONG THE FORMER MUJAHIDIN WHO WERE CLOSELY INVOLVED IN THE EMERGENCE OF THE TALIBAN IN 1994. HE T