Stardate 20011024.1506 (On Screen): Accounts vary on the extent of it, but a substantial part of the population of Kandahar has fled, probably well over half. The remaining people are now being terrorized by the Taliban. They just rounded up a hundred suspected collaborators and may well shoot most of them after summary trials. This is not the kind of thing that leaders have to do when their people are solidly behind them; it's the sign of a despotic regime losing its grip.
On the other hand, they're ordering everyone who remains in Kandahar to report to the armory to be issued a weapon. One has to wonder how many of those weapons might end up being turned on the Taliban themselves. Will this result in a well-organized militia banded together to defend Kandahar against the hated Americans, or a descent into anarchy and civil war? (discuss)
