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IRISH TIMES Britain and Russia replay Kipling's 'Great Game' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From Chris Stephen, in Kabul AFGHANISTAN: The "Great Game" is on again with the arrival of Russian "technicians" in the Afghan capital Kabul. The Russians flew in on Monday night and have already established themselves in the city - with the British, who arrived more than a week beforehand, still stranded outside. Yesterday the 200 Russians - officially listed as "experts", and clad in smart blue uniforms - could be seen gaily racing about the capital in their trucks, happy to be the first foreign contingent allowed in. Later in the day they built a field hospital in the city, choosing a vacant lot in Kabul's most prestigious suburb, Wazar Akbar Khan. The hospital was guarded by two rows of troops, one Russian, one Afghan. Crowds of locals gathered, with many not pleased at seeing the return of the army which throughout the 1980s fought a bloody war to try and subdue the country. "Why are they back? We chased them away," said one man. Another man in the crowd got too close. He held the handlebars of his bicycle, and one of the grey uniformed Afghan Interior Ministry troops slammed the spokes, knocking it over. The hospital itself, covered in camouflage netting - to hide it from whom, it is not clear - had no patients. But that is not the point. The point is to give the Russians an excuse to come here and plant the flag. By contrast, the British Royal Marines remain stuck at Bagram airbase, a shattered mine-infested ruin, where they have been since November 15th. The British flew in as the spearhead of a 6,000-strong force that was expected to follow. But unlike the Russians, the Marines found their path blocked by the Northern Alliance. The problem was that the British arrived empty-handed. Russia's gift to the new government was to grant diplomatic recognition to the Northern Alliance regime under President Burhanuddin Rabbani now installed in Kabul. But British officials say they fear Professor Rabbani's decision to pack key ministries with ethnic Tajiks will alienate the other ethnic groups who share the city, and could spark civil unrest. Attempts by the British to organise a Bagram Open Day for the world's press have got nowhere. The original idea was to let the media see that the Marines are not starving - and perhaps to slip them a bottle of whisky - but dates have been repeatedly scrubbed with London worried that the publicity will further embarrass Mr Tony Blair. It is all very different from the Victorian era when lucky army officers and adventurers from Britain and Russia set out to Afghanistan, intent on playing the Great Game. The phrase was made famous by Kipling. He wrote in Kim, exactly one hundred years ago: "Now I shall go far and far into the North, playing the Great Game." In those days, these men persuaded or bribed mountain tribes to side with London or St Petersburg. The Russians came off best then - ending with outposts 20 miles from British India, and seem poised to do so again. ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
