The New York Times reports there have been growing fears that a warlord who once destroyed half of Kabul could be again about to open new attacks. Hekmatyar had been in exile in Iran during the Taliban years but returned recently to the Kabul region and vowed to join al-Qaeda and the Taliban in a new jihad. The New York Times did not mention that Hekmatyar was the top recipient of covert U.S. and Saudi funds in the 1980s. International peacekeeping forces operate only in Kabul, leaving Kandahar and other cities to warlords. U.S. troops do not participate in peacekeeping operations. For months, the Pentagon has ignored repeated calls from the Afghan government around the world to expand the peacekeeping forces.