The Long War Journal: A Profile of Mangal Bagh

Written by Manzar Zaidi on November 11, 2008 12:54 AM to The Long War Journal

Available online at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/11/a_profile_of_mangal.php

Mangal Bagh is one of the more enigmatic Islamic warlords to emerge from the Wild West frontier of Pakistan’s tribal belts adjoining Afghanistan. Bagh has led a charmed life; from humble beginnings he has risen to be the most powerful man controlling Khyber agency within Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas. His meteoric rise to power holds a curious mix of contradictions; he has swung from the secular to the fundamentalist outlook, has decried the Taliban yet enforcing a similar system of sharia, and has suppressed crime and drugs within his area of influence while at the same time collecting a kind of protection money. This is the story of Mangal Bagh, the new face of extremism in the Khyber agency.

Click to read A Profile of Mangal Bagh.

Manzar Zaidi directs the The Long War Journal's project on Global Jihadist Movements - The Pakistani Taliban.