Defections hit Afghan forces

After fighting the Taliban for the past seven years, many working for the Afghan security forces are now switching sides. Sulieman Ameri and his 16 men were until a month ago serving the Afghan government as police patrolling the border with Iran. Now they answer to the Taliban and their goal is to drive all foreign troops out of Afghanistan. Ameri, now a Taliban commander, told Al Jazeera that he joined the Taliban because of what he called anti-Muslim behavior by international soldiers. "I have seen everything with my own eyes, I have seen prostitution, I have seen them drinking alcohol. We are Muslim and therefore jihad is our obligation," Ameri said in the mountains south of Herat. "Our soil is occupied by Americans and I want them to leave this country. That is my only goal," he added. But Ameri and his men are not the only renegade government forces–some 70 police and soldiers have switched allegiances across the western region in the past two months. Al Jazeera's Dan Nolan, reporting from Afghanistan, said "low wages for a dangerous jobs" did not seem to be the reason behind the desertions. Instead, they deserted for ideological reasons, Nolan explained. "When Russia came it was only one country, today we have 24 foreign infidel countries on our soil. All our men and women should come and join the jihad," Fida Mohammad, a new Taliban recruit, told Al Jazeera. But though they reject the "infidels", they are not averse to receiving weapons or military training from them. The recruits - so fresh that many have not yet grown their beards, while some are still smoking, a practice banned by the Taliban - carry weapons provided by the Afghan government and certificates for weapons training by the US. Abdul Rahim, another new recruit, said he received training from American military contractor Blackwater for 45 days. "I can use the training to save my life in these mountains and I can also use it to fight them," he said. The switch in allegiances comes as the UN special envoy to Afghanistan warned on Tuesday that the Taliban's influence continues to spread beyond traditional strongholds to provinces around the capital, Kabul.