How the Taliban Crushed a Shiite Uprising in Northern Afghanistan

Mahdi, at center in white, met Taliban fighters in prison and decided to join them. But they had a falling out last year. (The New York Times)

The rumbling of engines echoed across the valley at dusk, as scores of men with mismatched camouflage and mud-caked Kalashnikovs descended into the town in northern Afghanistan.

Many had driven hours down the snow-capped mountains to reach the town and join forces with Mawlawi Mahdi Mujahid, a former Shiite commander within the mostly Sunni Taliban who had recently renounced the new Taliban government and seized control of this district.