-- On Sun, 15 Dec 2002, Sarad AV wrote: > Firstly,they cannot be exterminated.There is no proof of > identity as we may have in our countries and no body will ask > for it either,since most don't have one. The Taliban would > have cut their beard and hair and mixed up with civilian > population,while troops can go searching for orthodox > civilians with a taliban look,making it hard to hunt them > down.Once/if the international troops leave afghan,there are > over hundred factions,who will keep fighting among themselves > for 'land' and the taliban will be back.
There have always been a hundred factions quarreling over land in Afganistan. The level of violence was tolerable to Afghans and outsiders. What went wrong with the Taliban is that one faction, with outside aid from international islamicists, managed to actually get most of the land. US policy was to restore the status quo ante in Afghanistan, put things back the way they were before the Soviet invasion. It seems to have succeeded well enough, and there is no reason to suppose it will be any less stable than it was. The future of Afghanistan will probably be no less violent than it was before the Soviet invasion, but no more violent that it was before the Soviet invasion. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG k2IMyoZuE05D4VVX0FkW1hRQSzvJRDmLhlhwppHX 4+V+mECM7CjCVvLuL1WVl7q6w8saodTqAtyPLDY7v