Motorbike bandits of Jam: A look at the land Nato forgot in Afghanistan

FIVE masked men stand at the foot of a gorge, Kalashnikovs slung over shoulders, motorbikes parked next to a yurt. None wears uniform, one has a radio, only their eyes are visible beneath their headscarves.

Warned to expect bandits, it seemed the perfect place for a roving reporter to be ambushed, hemmed in by steep valley walls, a river flowing over the road forcing any vehicle to slow.

Yet the gunmen barely flinched when police arrived as they were on home turf, a tribal militia in Ghor, the province Nato forgot.

Reporting for The Scotsman I had ridden across Afghanistan on motorbike to reach the teetering Minaret of Jam, which archaeologists believe marks the lost city of Firuzkuh, a 12th century summer capital of the ancient Ghurid empire.

Ghor's police chief, General Khodayar Qudsi, insisted we take a police escort because of more than 150 armed groups in the province which rob, rape and pillage at will. Nato by contrast has fewer than 200 Lithuanian troops in Ghor, with orders not to fight, unless in self defence. They have no helicopters and rarely leave the capital, wChagcharan.

"We provide security for donors and we provide security for ourselves, that's it," said Colonel Nerijus Stankevicius, the Lithuanian commander. "We don't have any combat forces to go out and clear an area."

In that sense Ghor is unique. A province largely untouched by Nato's war effort, officials believe may foretell the future of Afghanistan when most US and Nato forces stop fighting and withdraw to their bases across the rest of the country, in 2014.

It is a province - which borders Helmand - where the rule of law and the government's writ are limited to the only city, where warlords rule fiefdoms, where security has deteriorated and where the insurgency is steadily taking hold.

"Ghor is a little bit forgotten," said Col Stankevicius. "It is a really tribal society. They have never had a central government. The local police, the local government officials, they don't have much influence. Compared to five years ago … There are more unhappy people, more movement of Taleban fighters and more insurgent attacks."

Provincial governor Dr Abdullah Haiwad said every level of his administration was corrupt. He said there used to be "a partnership between the government and the smugglers," which he was trying break.

Yet despite nine months in office, he said efforts to sack two corrupt directors within his own office had been thwarted, because the individuals were too well-connected in Kabul. "I am still waiting for them to be fired," he said.

There are only 160 Afghan soldiers in the province, and 1,160 policemen spread across nine districts. Gen Qudsi and Col Stankevicius both said the police were often more loyal to their tribes than to their commanders, and refused to act against kinsmen."They don't know how to shoot, how to attack, many are illiterate," said Col Stankevicius. "They need to learn the law and behave like policemen, not like bandits with rifles."

Some warlords let officials and police into their territory, others fight them, Gen Qudsi said. The escort which came to Jam with The Scotsman was led by a man from the same Zai Reza tribe as the militia, and the policemen greeted the gunmen like old friends. Mullah Mustafa, who controls Shahrak district, is more wary of police. He openly maintains checkpoints and levies taxes. "It's about 100afghanis (0.75p] for a passenger car and 500Afs (6.67] for a lorry," said a senior Afghan official.

In a recent clash between the Zai Reza and their rival Taimani tribe, the Taleban offered both sides support, in exchange for the right to set up checkpoints Dr Haiwad said. In Pasaband district, which also borders Helmand, insurgents have a presence in at least six villages and when they hanged an Afghan aid worker in June, it took the police three days before they cut his body down.

Beyond the reach of Nato or the Afghan government, Col Stankevicius said Ghor was "paradise" for insurgents. Dr Haiwad said it was where they could "rest, relax and refuel".

"Any time they are under pressure in Helmand… they can come up to Ghor for shelter," he said. "They can live in the villages without any hassle because our security forces are not enough to fight them."