$300 to stay safe from the Taleban

Published Date: 04 July 2008 IN A darkened room just outside the town of Musa Qala, three Afghan elders are discussing a price. Finally, after several minutes, they come to a conclusion and lean over a table filled with half-drunk glasses of tea and bowls of sweets, and tell the translator their decision: $300 (£151) is what they want. Not for them, but for a young man who confessed to having been hired by a member of the Taleban to murder the town's chief of police, and has now become a star witness in the recruiter's upcoming trial. The bearded British man on the other side of the table nods. "We can pay him that allowance to send to his home – if you can protect him." The men nod back in agreement. They can. This is the latest way of doing business for British government operatives trying to win the much-discussed... [read full story]