As head of the Interior Ministry's crisis unit, Cheema is in charge of cooperating with the US in the war on terrorism.
Switching sides
Pakistan was a strong supporter of the Taliban regime, but switched sides following the Sept. 11 attacks and has become a key ally of the US. Still, rogue elements of the military and intelligence services are believed to have maintained old allegiances.
The sharp rise in attacks comes as the West scrambles to increase its commitment in the country, a change of heart that analysts complain may be too-little-too-late after two years of foot-dragging.
US President George W. Bush earlier this month asked Congress for an additional US$800 million for Afghan reconstruction, and NATO last week began assessing whether to expand a 5,000-strong peacekeeping mission beyond the capital, Kabul.
In Ghazni, Mohammed Chaos Aolya, the director of the Red Crescent Society here, said police were slow to react when he received an urgent phone call on Aug. 13 from a frantic worker injured in the Taliban attack.
"They are all afraid to do anything," Aolya said. "The police didn't want to come with us to the area, so I myself went and brought the dead bodies back and tended to the wounded."
Aolya said that anybody familiar with the province knows that "Taliban and al-Qaeda walk around freely during the day." He said Taliban supporters no longer wear the black turbans favored by the religious militia during its rule, but don't otherwise do much to hide.
He also blamed the US for not doing enough to eradicate the group.
"They have cut down the Taliban but they have left the roots remaining, and now this plague is growing back," he said, adding that nearly all shipments of blankets and food to the region have been halted since the attack on his workers.
"Ghazni is a poor province. This is hurting every man, woman and child," he said.
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