Across the country, Afghan activists and political opponents are tired of being told that their country is on the mend when they know it is not, and they are frustrated with the dominance of Sayyaf, Fahim and their kind. But they are even angrier about the explicit threats they receive whenever they actually challenge the warlord dominance in public.

One political organizer I ran into in July, who runs a small periodical in Kabul, told me a story that seemed to sum up the country's warlord problem. Earlier this year, the organizer fell afoul of Sayyaf after he published an editorial in his paper that alleged the warlord might have been involved in the killing of civilians during fighting in west Kabul in 1992 and 1993. The organizer told me that the day after he published the article, he received several threatening calls from Sayyaf himself, while he was traveling to Paghman to attend a wedding there.

"When Sayyaf understood I was in Paghman, he tried to find me. He called me on my mobile phone while I was eating lunch. He asked me to come and see him.

"I said, 'Sir, at the moment I am eating, and I cannot see you,' But he insisted that I come to him." But the organizer, fearing that he would be arrested, stayed where he was.

"Half an hour later he called again and he said to me that I should to come to see him. I again refused. He got angry and said, 'You have written nonsense, trash; you have degraded me and insulted me. What you have written is an indignity for me. You have insulted and degraded the mujahedin, and you are traitors to the achievements of the jihad.'

"I said, 'Sir, what have I done wrong? I just reflected what you say you had done in the jihad. You should not have done those deeds which you repent now.'

"'Juan Mak,' he said. It means 'Damn you, God kill you.' Then he said, 'You do not know what you have done. I am a jihadi leader. It is an insult to me.'

"I said, 'Sir, please, this issue cannot be solved on the telephone. We can see each other and talk about this later.'

"He said, 'I want you to come immediately.'"

The organizer started to fear that Sayyaf might find him in Paghman.

"Well, I left immediately with my family for Kabul. When I got back, I received another call from him. He wanted me again to come to him, but I said, 'Sir, forgive me, I am in Kabul.'"

Later, the same organizer was visited and threatened by members of the army and Afghan intelligence service, the Amniat-e Melli.

He has kept a low profile since, and hasn't gone back to Paghman.

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