AFGHANISTAN

Observer: Stronger and more deadly, the terror of the Taliban is back


Close to Kandahar is a little village they call the cradle of the Taliban. Now, two years after the collapse of Mullah Omar's feared regime, the fundamentalist movement is once again on the march. In this disturbing report, Jason Burke in Sangesar tracks a resurgent menace

Sweeping the tail of his black turban over a shoulder, the young priest kneels in the dust and fiddles with the bare wires connecting an ancient amplifier to a car battery. Moments later, the call to noon prayer crackles out over the small village of Sangesar, birthplace of the Taliban