Top Afghan official defects to Taliban

[Recursion]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Top-Afghan-official-defects-to-Taliban/articleshow/22764782.cms

Odd. This is both more senior and more northerly than makes sense (think "Governor of Connecticut defects to Confederacy" back in the Civil War, or something like that).

A former Afghan lawmaker and district governor has defected to the Taliban in the northern province of Sar-e-Pol, officials said on Thursday.

Qazi Abdul Hai served as a senator during 2004-08 and was later made a district governor in Sar-e-Pol.

Hai is believed to have defected to the Taliban with two bodyguards.

He is thought to be the highest ranking Afghan civilian official to have joined the Taliban, the BBC reported.

Sar-e-Pol is the westernmost grey province in the north (next to the one labeled "8%&quot , kind of shaped like a "Z". Not a very high Taliban presence. Very strange.

EDIT for clarity: I posted the map; it's not part of the article. It's also six years old but I can't find a better one.

[delrem]

1. Yah, well, if I were the US I'd say let's get out of there 12 yrs ago,

and come up with a different plan.

But of course it isn't 12 yrs ago and the US is the US.