Asked if the Americans agreed that Gul Haider's reinforcements should go home, Mohammad Ismail said through a translator: "The Americans are not involved in the internal affairs of our country. They are promoting a policy of anti al-Qaeda activity. They have not occupied us and are not our bosses. They are supporting us in restoring stability. I stress they are not our bosses. This is an issue decided by our government." The sudden turnarounds happened on a day when it appeared that after bad weather, U.S.-led forces were poised for a final assault on what Afghan leader Karzai has described as the last major al Qaeda base in Afghanistan. However there had been rumblings among some Afghan commanders that they would prefer to give the several hundred al Qaeda fighters a last chance to negotiate a surrender before a dangerous advance across land mine-littered landscape leading up to bunkers and cave entrances.
That means success was in sight and they don't want to see Cousin Mahmud, on the other side, get waxed in the final assault. If they sit down and negotiate for a couple weeks then most of the Bad Guys'll be able to make it to Pakistan or somewhere else in Afghanistan where they're not under the gun. Nothing will be accomplished, but at least the Tadjiks won't get the credit. I'm for reconstituting the Northern Alliance and pacifying the whole goddamned country. |