Almost two years after the fall of the Taliban government in Kabul, the regime’s mullahs (or clerics) are still wielding power in many of Afghanistan’s unruly provinces, especially in Zabul and Paktika. The central government’s lack of control in these ultraconservative areas is providinganopportunity for Taliban mullahs to regenerate the ranks of the militia. While US and Afghan forces have killed more than 100 suspected Taliban militants in a major operation launched in August, the continued grip of Taliban ideology in the villages near the battlefields suggests that the roots of the insurgency remain. Full Story