Long hair and hiking boots = Taliban?

(c) Simon Klingert

Narang Valley- He was caught the day after the election, as he passed a checkpoint. The Afghan Army thought he looked suspicious. He had long hair, he'd come from five villages deep into the mountain valley. He wore hiking boots.

He said his name was Turgul, that he was 20 years old and that he didn't read or write.

"I live in the Badel Valley," Turgul said. His eyes were frightened and confused. Or maybe he was a good actor. His beard was scraggly and the v-wrinkle between his eyebrows could have come from squinting down the barrel of an AK. "I came into Qala Una and I didn't find the stuff I needed. On the way to the district center they caught me."

I asked why they might suspect him of being Taliban. "I don't know why they caught me. They took pictures of my eyes...I told them I'm disabled," he pulled up a pant leg to reveal a prosthetic leg.

"I used to be a sheppard of goats in the mountains. I fell and became unconscious. The U.S. forces took me to Bagram Air Field. They said my leg was destroyed and they cut it off and gave me this one."

The story seemed fishy. How does one get his leg amputated from a fall? It seemed more likely from a blast- a land mine or a rocket. But Turgul claimed he was happy U.S. forces helped him. "I can walk, I got married." As if to show his good guy credentials, he said he used to be an Afghan solider in Asadabad but because his salary wasn't paid, he went back to being a sheppard.

He said there were only five families in his village. I tried to imagine what it looked like. All were farmers with a local Mullah who leads them in prayer. He said the last time the coalition came to their village was almost two years ago.

Ask any Afghan, no Afghan will admit they know any Taliban. I asked him anyways. Turgul's response was no different, although Badel Valley is known to be a Taliban haven. "I've never heard of any or seen any," he said. "I hate that the Taliban is also in our country."

I asked him if he'd ever had trouble from the Taliban. He grew excited. "I'm born in the valley, I'm from the valley, nobody can tell me anything in the valley...if any Taliban tried to kill you, (referring to me and Simon) you'd be my guest, and I'd kill them."

Despite the typical "Pashtunwali" sentiment, a tribal code of conduct by which enemies can sit down with each other, and make truces as guests, it was hard to trust him. But it was hard not to trust him.

Long hair and hiking boots. Two signs he was Taliban, according to the Afghan Army captain. "We caught him at the checkpoint," said the ANA captain. "He looks like a bad guy. His boots, hair, his village. There are more bad guys up there than good guys."

(c) Simon Klingert (The suspect named Turgul was given food, water and a shower at the ANA compound. Then he was questioned by Afghan intelligence. Part of his prosthetic leg is visible above his boot.)

The National Directorate of Security (NDS- Afghan intelligence) man next to the captain, appeared confident.

"We have big lists on bad guys," the NDS man, who declined to have his picture taken, said. "We can match his name, age, picture to where he's from in our files."

The NDS said they can hold him for six hours of questioning. "That's in our constitution, to keep him if we have evidence." The NDS also have a reputation for torture.

"It's my job in the district center," the NDS man said. "All my guys are from the area. There's a saying- a guy from the mountains knows what kind of guy you are." Then he scurried off to either question Turgul or to go to another intelligence meeting.

I asked the captain if he really thought Turgul was Taliban. The captain shrugged. "Physically he looks Taliban, but I didn't investigate him. But his leg shows he probably isn't. If he's a Talib, and the NDS finds him to be a Tailb, he will be more helpful to them. Being a bad guy is not just a fighter," he added, meaning maybe he was a collaborator running supplies to the Taliban.

Turgul had reportedly taken a taxi to the checkpoint. That was suspicious. How could he afford one, and why would he hail a taxi after he'd walked almost an hour down from the mountains to his destination?

But wouldn't it be stupid to try to go through an Army checkpoint if he was Taliban, I asked. The captain shrugged again. "Sometimes the enemy does something stupid. We've caught them with bombs and weapons at checkpoints in front of the base... If you look at your face in the mirror every day, you believe you're good."

"It's not a big deal for them to accept money to shoot an AK at us. They fought with the Russians...," the captain said. "I've been up in those valleys. When we go in they're farmers, when come out in the afternoon, they're shooting at us."

The NDS man popped back in the captain's office and said they knew him. That Turgul was a farmer, and they'd let him go.

"In the last four months, this is the first we let go," the Captain said.

A U.S. intelligence guy later said, it wasn't true. That the NDS hadn't let him go.