As the Afghan government is failing to maintain a rapport with local people, the Afghans are turning to the Taliban, which are running courts and hospitals, to fill in the gap. “A government that is losing to a counter-insurgency isn’t being outfought, it is being out-governed,” David Kilcullen, a senior adviser to US commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal, was reported as saying on August 31. “And that’s what’s happening in Afghanistan.” Kilcullen said the Afghan government of Hamid Karzai was failing to respond to the needs of the local Afghans. Therefore, local Afghans are increasingly turning to the Taliban to solve their disputes, he said. Afghanistan has been in a state of political limbo since the August 20 disputed elections.
Kilcullen said that the Taliban are running shadow governments in many Afghan districts. “It’s a direct challenge to the international security forces,” added Kilcullen. The Taliban are now running a network of 15 Shari’ah courts in the south to solve disputes between the locals. The Afghan group has also set up an ombudsman’s office near Kandahar to hear complaints from local Afghans. “If the Taliban do something that offends you, you go to the ombudsman and you complain, and they hear the case,” said Kilcullen. “Sometimes they fire or even execute Taliban commanders for breaking the code of conduct.” A recent report by the Senlis Council said Taliban has permanent presence in more than half of Afghanistan.