By Gul Khan
Special to Korea Times
KABUL _ The Taliban Mullah Muhammad Anas Sharif, who claimed to be responsible for the kidnapping of the 28 Korean nationals, is a regional Taliban commander. Sharif's is leading a band of militants mostly in Ghazni Province, located some 75 kilometres south of Kabul.
The militants are also using the kidnappings of foreigners to cow down the Afghan government and force the international community to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan.
The commander and his men say they owe allegiance to the deposed Taliban Amirul Momineen (leader of the faithful) Mullah Muhammad Omar.
Mullah Omar's government was overthrown as a result of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
The apparent reason behind that attack was the September 11 incident in the United States.
The US had accused al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Ladin for the attack. Osama was living in Afghanistan at that time.
The US government asked the Taliban to deport him (Osama) or hand him over to the United States. Not accepting the demand, the US forces, backed by its western allies, invaded Afghanistan in December 2001 and overthrew the six-year long Taliban regime.
Since then, the militants are fighting a guerilla war in Afghanistan. The Taliban militants are operative all over the landlocked country; however, they are quite strong in the southern parts, where the Korean nationals were kidnapped.
Besides kidnapping foreigners, the Taliban militants, who are opposed to the presence of NATO/ISAF and US-led Coalition troops in Afghanistan, are also averse to the present government led by moderate President Hamid Karzai.
Besides involved in a guerilla war against the Afghan and foreign troops, the militants are also targeting government officials, doctors, engineers, schoolteachers, and NGO workers _ both foreign and local.
In recent months, they have adopted the Iraqi style of insurgency by carrying out suicide attacks and landmine blasts instead of direct fighting with the local as well as foreign troops.