Islamabad, Pakistan ? The Taliban are no longer on the run and have teamed up with al-Qaida once again, according to officials and former Taliban who say the religious militia has reorganized and strengthened since their defeat at the hands of the U.S.-led coalition nearly two years ago.

The militia, which ruled Afghanistan espousing a strict brand of Islam, are now getting help from some Pakistani authorities as well as a disgruntled Afghan population fed up with lawlessness under the U.S.-backed interim administration, according to a former Taliban corps commander.

“Now the situation is very good for us. It is improving every day. We can move everywhere,” said Gul Rahman Faruqi, a corps commander of the Gardez No. 3 garrison during the Taliban’s rule.

“Now if the Taliban go to any village, people give them shelter and food. Now the people are tired of the looters and killers,” Faruqi told The Associated Press, referring to regional warlords aligned with Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government.

In most parts of Afghanistan regional powers operate with relative impunity, terrorizing residents, extorting money, dealing in drugs and running lucrative smuggling routes.

“Before people didn’t believe the Taliban were around. They thought we were finished so they were afraid. But now they see that we are active and they see there is no other alternative to the looters and killers,” said Faruqi, who was interviewed Monday in neighboring Pakistan.

“We know they don’t like the Taliban, but they hate the looters and killers even more.”

In the Afghan capital, a Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the religious militia, working with al-Qaida, has regrouped, changed tactics and now operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Faruqi scoffed at suggestions that coalition forces have them on the run.

“We have new bases all over Afghanistan. We have just reached to Faryab province. There are 10,000 American soldiers. They can’t be everywhere. We are not afraid. … We know we can move freely,” Faruqi said.

The Taliban have appointed military councils in each Afghan province, re-established military bases in the country, developed a command structure and injected discipline into the ranks, he said.

On the newest battlefield in southeastern Zabul province — where U.S. special forces, the 10th Mountain division and Afghan government soldiers are waging “Operation Mountain Viper” — Faruqi said the Taliban’s military command structure was fixed: Abdul Jabbar, a former aide to the Taliban’s Balkh governor, is in charge. His field commanders are Amir Khan Haqqani and Ghulam Nabi. All three are from Zabul province.

The Zabul provincial chief of intelligence for Karzai’s government, Khalil Hotak, agreed that the Taliban have strengthened.

“The Taliban are regrouping, having meetings in districts. In Zabul province 80 percent of the people in every district are loyal to the Taliban,” Hotak told the AP on Tuesday.