By HABIB ZAHORI THE NEW YORK TIMES

Afghanistan is a country built on legends – we trade on the tales we’ve told and retold each other over many generations.

There’s a favorite subgenre of stories here, about foreigners going local, that particularly seem to linger in memory. Accounts of Soviet soldiers who renounced their orders, converted to Islam and disappeared into the population. Or an old favorite about the imam of the Pul-e Kheshti mosque – a British spy who hid in plain sight delivering sermons in downtown Kabul’s main mosque. No one suspected he was a foreigner until one day his mission was done and he was gone.

And now we may be seeing a new legend take shape, built on whispered accounts of brief sightings: tales of the White Taliban of Arghandab.

The mystery has many layers, perhaps starting with the fact that American Special Operations teams are a particular focus of apprehension and fascination for many Afghans. Few locals ever interact closely with the commandos, who move in secret as they conduct training missions and raid homes in remote areas, prosecuting an unpopular war out of public sight.

Ask most rural Afghans what they know about the American Special Ops guys, and they will talk about beards. Unlike the usually clean-shaven and uniformed conventional forces, the American commandos grow their beards out.

Usually, that doesn’t hide much. Coarse American accents and brusque movements would give them away even if they were trying to blend in.

But out in the Arghandab Valley of Kandahar Province, one of the most volatile regions in the country, locals talk about a different breed of American Special Operations forces who settled in around 2005. They are said to drive civilian vehicles, wear local clothes, speak good Pashto – and yes, sport thick beards.

They are so good at blending in that the locals have taken to calling them “Spin Taliban” – Pashto for White Taliban – because of their resemblance to the actual Afghan Taliban, including the trademark black, puffy turbans.

I first heard about the White Taliban from an Arghandabi relative who was visiting my family in Kabul. He told me about a day he was out working in his pomegranate orchard and mistook one of the bearded Americans for an actual Talib.

READ MORE HERE: http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/23/tales-of-white-taliban-sketch-a-new-legend/