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Afghanistan
Time chats up the Talibs
2002-03-26
  • "Our neighbors are also terrified of the United States, and they want to make trouble for America," warns "Hajji Mullah Sahib." "Now they are sending us money, guns and men." On this score, he's right. Iran has been sending supplies and munitions to disgruntled Afghan commanders who are not being paid by the new government. In Kandahar, the Taliban's spiritual center, a government commander says disaffected elements of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency have been covertly assisting al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives with logistics, escape and safe havens.

    The anti-American forces, by various accounts, are also finding support from a coalition of disparate groups within Afghanistan. These include the Iranian-backed Hezb-i-Islami movement, which before the Taliban came to power was one of the most dangerous factions among the Afghan mujahedin, and Ittehad-i-Islami, which has a few thousand underfunded troops in southern Afghanistan. These groups once opposed the Taliban, but Afghan intelligence sources confirm that the old disputes have been sidelined in the face of a common enemy: America and its Afghan allies. Astad Abdul Halim, Ittehad-i-Islami's Kandahar commander, blasts the province's U.S.-backed governor, Gul Agha Sherzai. "If Sherzai continues the bad acts he is doing now," he says, "there will be a time very soon when we will attack."
    Confirms a bunch we already knew. Gul Agha's in kind of a tough position, since nobody seems to like him, including us and probably including his Mom. Ittehad-e-Islami is the Saudi-funded Wahhabi party headed by the shifty Rasool Sayyaf. Hezb-i-Islami is Hekmatyar's party, which is out only for the interests of Hekmatyar. It's not like either of them turned against the USA any time recently.
    A great map that explains this current no man's land of Pushtunistan is: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/afghan_paki_border_rel88.jpg.

    Essentially, the US and Karzai can't win this civil war without Pakistan having sovereignity over its Pushtun areas. That simply isn't the case now.
    Posted by Tom Roberts 3/26/2002 6:49:07 PM
    They can if they ignore the border the same way the Bad Guys are. (See my suggestion above) In fact, if they don't come around to ignoring the border, they'll still end up losing the war, because it's a war against Pakistan. We just didn't realize it when we started it.
    Posted by Fred 3/26/2002 11:25:06 PM
    • Posted by:Fred Pruitt

    00:00