Alison Campsie
in Afghanistan

He held the room with his presence. Former Mujahadin warrior and reformed Taliban commander Abdul Mullah Salaam Mujahid had invited me into his home for tea and an interview. A wrong word, a missed protocol, and things could go terribly wrong.

Thankfully, he welcomed me with grace and offered me a sweet.

Yesterday progress was made in relations between Britain and the emerging democratic governance of Afghanistan when I and one other female journalist became the first western women to be allowed in the home of the Musa Qala district governor.

We were also invited to meet the governor's four wives and his many children, said to be a total of 27. With women very hidden in Afghan culture this was a rare honour, to be allowed to shake hands and take photographs with them, and to receive beautiful salwar kameezes, which they were keen to run up on the sewing machine there and then.

The governor, Mullah Salaam for short, is keen to build bridges. His role is at the vanguard of a new look Afghanistan, a country without the Taliban fighters who breed fear and submission into every aspect of society.

As the leader of one of the sub-groups of the dominant tribe in Musa Qala, Mullah Salaam has pledged to bring his armed tribesmen to fight alongside British forces. It is a significant move for the Kabul government and its western allies because for the first time they have been able exploit tribal divisions within the Taliban in Helmand.

Part of the approach taken by the coalition forces, particularly by the British, is to build up strong, successful communities so that the Taliban lose their stake in Afghan life. Bringing people over "to the other side" is key in what is said to be a war for the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.

Give them the confidence to run their own lives, and they will do so without terrorist control. Add new schools and hospitals and even film nights and free radios, and the draw becomes stronger.

To then have installed one of the most powerful warlords of the past on the coalition programme sets a precedent for a complete turnaround in the way the country is run.

Mullah Salaam has many enemies. Indeed intelligence suggests that a suicide bomber is planning to attack his home, which towers over Musa Qala.

Bodyguards flanked us step-by-step to Salaam HQ and we arrived in a room of many men, presumably a mixture of his private militia and his sons, and ushered into one of his parlours.

He rose to welcome us, and after some discussion between his adviser and the translator over the questions to ask, he invited us to come and sit closer to him.

His sons were ordered to go the market for fruit, greengages and oranges, and silver platters and a pot of tea and orange soda was served. Mullah Salaam eased back in his armchair, picked at a long string of prayer beads, sometimes toying with his thick ebony locks of beard.

Salaam's kinder observers describe him as utterly charismatic, to others he is a feared ruler whose militia are responsible for terrible atrocities, intimidation and extortion of the townspeople.

But he is now the key link between old Afghanistan and a new direction for the country, one without the threat of the Taliban.Yesterday he sought to distance himself between his past associations with the organisation. He has taken on many names and titles in the past but yesterday asked to be referred to as Abdul Mullah Salaam Mujahid - the freedom fighter.

"It (The Taliban) was a new group in the name of Islam. I thought they would be good people to make our Afghanistan better and better. But they are a lot of the groups who have destroyed our country," he says.

Mullah Salaam was placed in power in Musa Qala after the British army retook the town from Taliban who laid seige in 2007. The organisation reneged on a deal, brokered by the British Army during a meeting in the desert with its chiefs, to leave Musa Qala and make it a dead zone. Not long after the agreement the organisation returned with fury, hanging elders from the town monument and crippling the place with fear. Mullah Salaam was not with them during this time, but observing from the sidelines.

He said: "In 2006, Musa Qala was like a centre for terrorism and there was a lot of narcotics. There was no- one to tell the people why they were killing the people and there was no one to stop the activities.

"They were killing the people and doing every bad thing they could do. That was the reason that I joined this government and try my best for this country."

It was Mullah Salaam's decision to accept the role of governor, another deal brokered by top level security chiefs drawn from organisations such as the CIA and MI6, which triggered the British Army takeover of the area in December 2007. One of the first things to be done was to give him the security he needed and seal his new home in the army compound. To say there was a price on his head is underselling the story.

But Mullah Salaam claims that he feels 100% safe in the town despite the hatred against him.

"The best security in Afghanistan, particularly in Helmand, is in Musa Qala. I think because the society is unitary between ISAAF, the Afghan National Police and the Afghan National Army, there won't be a problem for us. Unity is everything for us."

While there is some criticism of the way he was installed as governor, he said that he would happily take part in an election.

"If they would like me to, I would. I would obey the order of our people. I am the son of Afghan people, I am Afghan, and I will do what the people need from me."

When asked if there was a message for Musa Quala people, who were due to hear the interview on Radio Musa Qala, the army run radio station, he immediately relayed three points as if they had been sitting around waiting for air.

"My first message to the people would be to get the education and we will do our best in reconstruction. The second message is help with the government.

The third message was seemingly directed at the Taliban: "Afghanistan is not for fighting, we should talk. There is no need for fighting us."

One thing that is clear about Mullah Salaam is that he is a family man, with a fond memory of his mother and a strong sense of duty regarding his children, including his many daughters.

When we arrived at his home, he was happy to welcome his female guests: "They are our mothers and our sisters," he said.

His own father died when he was two years old, his mother stressing the importance of religious study and academic work.

"It is my memory that my mother never hit me or beat me. Every time she was giving me advice to do the good thing. Sometimes I am crying for my mother, I miss her a lot."

He is for the education of girls, a possibility at Musa Qala school, and has a tutor for at least one of his own daughters.

Being a good father is central to his life and his religious beliefs, with the role of governor too said to be a godly act. He will be judged on both fronts.