The grisly murders in Wardak, a province just west of Kabul that's largely dominated by the Taliban, offered a flash of insight into how the insurgents wield power in the parts of Afghanistan where they're strong, a picture that contradicts the pious image the militant Islamists try to project.

In fact, the killings of Nabiullah, a 29-year-old police colonel who'd been held for 10 weeks, and Junid Hejeran, a 26-year-old translator with U.S. special forces in southern Zabul province, who'd been held for days, violated a new set of ethical principles that Mullah Mohammad Omar, the top Taliban commander, issued last summer.

In mid-November, around the time of the killings, American and Afghan forces arrested a Sunni Muslim cleric known as Mullah Naqib, the local Taliban strongman, who allegedly held both men and ordered their executions, said officials of both countries.

In January, U.S. special forces and Afghan commandos arrested two more top Taliban officials in Wardak, Ahmad Jan, the Taliban military commander, and Ali Marjan, his religious adviser, both of whom are maulavi, Sunni religious scholars. Both also were directly involved in the murders of the two security personnel, according to the top Afghan civilian official in the province.