Tribal

F inally, after eight years, the U.S. military in Afghanistan is acknowledging the fact that the war there is more against a Pashtun tribal insurgency than against an offshoot of al-Qaeda. In support of this belated realization, there is now evidence of military funding for several research projects aimed at understanding the culture of the Pashtun tribes and what is needed to win them over. The success, however, of this changed perception will rest on the Obama administration's flexibility to accept the historical reality that the concept of jihad among Pashtuns, which is fueling this insurgency, is closely tied to external interventions.

State regulators have ordered a South Dakota-based payday lender to stop making consumer loans in Maryland after finding the company used predatory tactics and charged excessive interest rates. Western Sky Financial, located on a reservation in Timber Lake, S.D., has said it was not required to follow Maryland law because of tribal immunity, according to the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. The labor department's Division of Financial Regulation said Thursday it has issued a final cease and desist order against Western Sky, its owner Martin Webb and other related parties.

Tribal Crown set the pace early in yesterday's Straight Face allowance feature at Pimlico and drew off to win in 1 minute, 43 3/5 seconds over 1 1/16 miles on turf.Ridden by leading jockey Michael Luzzi and trained by Virgil "Buddy" Raines, Tribal Crown paid $5.40, $3.80 and $3.40. Chuck Sails, under Marco Casteneda, was second, 2 1/2 lengths back, and paid $3.80 and $2.80. Half Gavvo ran third for $3 with Edgar Prado up. The 1-7 exacta paid $22.20.The double-triple carry-over topped six figures yesterday and will be $110,889.

There's a long back-story to Maryland's official recognition of the Piscataway as a distinct tribe of Native American people, and it's not pretty. Last week's announcement of the long-sought declaration in Annapolis marked an end to both the state's stubborn refusal to recognize any native tribe - largely to stop its members from opening a casino here - and to a dispute between Piscataway groups that got so bitter, they even bickered over bones. In the 1990s, Maryland and other states went through the process of removing native bones from museums and offering them for reburial.

WASHINGTON -- Traditionally, when American Indians are killed in battle, their remains are returned to their tribal lands for burial. But for the families of the many Native Americans who join the U.S. military, death brings a difficult choice: The veterans can be buried in a national veterans' cemetery with fellow comrades in arms. Or, they can be buried close to home on tribal land. There is no way to do both. The Native American Veterans Cemetery Act would change that. Rep. Tom Udall, the New Mexico Democrat who wrote the bill, said it would authorize states to provide grants financed by the Department of Veterans Affairs for the development or improvement of veterans' cemeteries on tribal land.

TRIBES: HOW RACE, RELIGION AND IDENTITY DETERMIN SUCCESS IN THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMY.Joel Kotkin.Random House.343 pages. $24.Not far from downtown Tel Aviv sits a ruling palace of the world diamond trade, where the industry's pulse is endlessly monitored, analyzed and acted on.Geography has nothing to do with the Diamond Center's location in the heart of the Jewish state. Geography, indeed, is a good reason why it might not have flourished in a place that has been so isolated at times by wars and hostile neighbors.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- A missile strike destroyed the compound of a suspected militant leader in Pakistan's tribal belt yesterday, killing at least 18 people, officials and residents said. The Pakistani military disavowed responsibility for the strike in the South Waziristan tribal agency, raising the possibility that it was carried out by U.S. forces. American military officials in neighboring Afghanistan had no immediate comment, though U.S. troops are believed to have carried out similar attacks in recent months.

DIEPSLOOT, South Africa -- Fanie Soni sits in judgment of his neighbors in this squatter camp of 26,000 impoverished shack-dwellers north of Johannesburg.He has no legal qualifications, no training and is unemployed. But he is the first rung on the ladder of justice here.He sits in the community court, an informal forum approved by the community, tolerated by the police and about to be legalized by the government of President Nelson Mandela.The Justice Department wants community courts like this one to be officially recognized as an affordable, accessible and acceptable way of dealing with minor crimes and social problems.

WASHINGTON -- A new and classified U.S. military proposal outlines an intensified effort to enlist tribal leaders in the frontier areas of Pakistan in the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban as part of a broader effort to bolster Pakistani forces against an expanding militancy, U.S. military officials said. If adopted, the proposal would join elements of a shift in strategy that would likely expand the presence of U.S. military trainers in Pakistan, directly finance a separate tribal paramilitary force that until now has proved largely ineffective, and pay militias that agreed to fight al-Qaida and foreign extremists, officials said.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- By all appearances, Sheik Ghazi Mashal Ajil Al-Yawer seems well suited to the presidency of the interim Iraqi government, a largely ceremonial post. His robust figure, flowing white robes and rimless eyeglasses -- together with a well-groomed mustache -- give him a regal air. But from statements he has made while on the Iraqi Governing Council and the influence he wields through his tribal position, Yawer does not appear to be the sort to content himself with presiding over parades and welcoming visiting dignitaries.

Basir Jamil expressed himself eloquently in his article "Growing up Muslim" (Sept. 12). I'm sure he echoes the sentiments of many other Muslim-Americans. His analogy, that blaming Muslims for terrorism is like blaming all Christians for the KKK, had both substance and point. When I consider discrimination in the United States, two thoughts emerge. Evolution worked to produce an intense, natural inclination in human beings to separate themselves into coalitions; us against them.

WILMA MANKILLER, 64 Former Cherokee Nation chief Former Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller has died after battling pancreatic cancer. The Tahlequah, Okla.-based tribe says Ms. Mankiller died Tuesday morning. Ms. Mankiller was one of the few women ever to lead a major American Indian tribe. As the first female chief of the Cherokees, from 1985 to 1995, she led the tribe in tripling its enrollment, doubling employment and building health centers and children's programs.

The Iraqi parliamentary elections last week highlight one very important lesson about tribal engagement in counterinsurgencies: It works. Voter turnout in Sunni tribal provinces such as Anbar and Diyala -- formerly hotbeds of the insurgency -- topped out at 70 percent. Among the long list of newly formed political parties vying for seats in parliament, more than a few boasted openly tribal affiliations. Tribal outreach was also a major component of coalition forming for major Shiite candidates, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Ayad Allawi, proving that tribal engagement can work across sectarian lines.

F inally, after eight years, the U.S. military in Afghanistan is acknowledging the fact that the war there is more against a Pashtun tribal insurgency than against an offshoot of al-Qaeda. In support of this belated realization, there is now evidence of military funding for several research projects aimed at understanding the culture of the Pashtun tribes and what is needed to win them over. The success, however, of this changed perception will rest on the Obama administration's flexibility to accept the historical reality that the concept of jihad among Pashtuns, which is fueling this insurgency, is closely tied to external interventions.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - For the six months he helped execute the "hearts and minds" outreach of the United States in one of the most dangerous front lines of the American battle against militants, Stephen D. Vance had to balance a strategic mission with nearly daily concerns about his personal safety. Yesterday, as he was arriving at his office in a residential area of turbulent Peshawar, he was shot and killed by gunmen, becoming the most prominent casualty of an increasingly troubled effort to use economic aid to undercut the hold of al-Qaida and the Taliban on Pakistan's tribal areas.

ZIARAT, Pakistan - The mountain of white marble shines with such brilliance in the sun it looks like snow. For four years, the quarry beneath it lay dormant, its riches captive to tribal squabbles and government ineptitude in this corner of Pakistan's tribal areas. But in April, the Taliban appeared and imposed a firm hand. They settled the feud between the tribes, demanded a fat fee upfront and a tax on every truck that ferried the treasure from the quarry. Since then, Mir Zaman, a contractor from the Masaud subtribe, which was picked by the Taliban to run the quarry, has watched contentedly as his trucks roll out of the quarry with colossal boulders bound for refining in nearby towns.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A Pakistani Taliban leader who is waging a government-backed campaign to evict Central Asian militants from Pakistan's tribal regions said yesterday that he would give Osama bin Laden sanctuary in his area if he sought it. "Bin Laden has never come to this area, but if he comes here and seeks our protection, then according to tribal laws and customs we will protect him," the Taliban commander, Mullah Muhammad Nazir, 32, told journalists...

WASHINGTON - U.S. military and intelligence officials say there has been an increase in recent months in the number of foreign fighters who have traveled to Pakistan's tribal areas to join with militants there. The flow may reflect a change that is making Pakistan, not Iraq, the preferred destination for some Sunni extremists from the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia who are seeking to take up arms against the West, these officials say. The American officials say the influx, which could be in the dozens but also could be higher, shows a further strengthening of the position of the forces of al-Qaida in the tribal areas, increasingly seen as an important base of support for the Taliban, whose forces in Afghanistan have become more aggressive in their campaign against American-led troops.