Kabul: At a ceremony inaugurating the new "Afghan Pentagon" on Monday, President Ashraf Ghani stressed the importance of building a modern military, subservient to the nation's constitution and laws rather than to powerful individuals. He portrayed the gleaming new facility, built with US funds, as the central command for that mission: defeating Taliban and Islamic State fighters. But 240 kilometres east, in the embattled district of Achin, news was spreading of an atrocity committed by a private pro-government militia over the weekend. After Islamic State forces captured and beheaded five of its members, Afghan officials reported, the militia...
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