The Frontier Post is reporting a bit of good news from an Afghan Islamic Press newswire piece. At least 40 Taliban insurgents have switched allegiances in favor of their local government. Here, from Herat:
“As many as 40 Taliban including their three commanders joined the government in Pasaband district of Ghor province, officials said Sunday. The Ghor Police Chief Abdul Baqi Nuristani said that 40 Taliban, including their renowned commander Feroz, handed over their 25 various kinds of weapons to the government, adding they vowed to live peaces life onwards. Nuristani said that was the group of opponents which joined the peace process.”
Taliban are always switching allegiances back and forth; nevertheless each report of such defections are surely newsworthy, even if from a public relations perspective. Let’s see if this flows upstream to the New York Times.