AN OUTSIDE VIEW

When Russia invaded Afghanistan in support of its puppet government in the late 1970s, the west, especially the US, supported the Muhajeddin Islamic freedom fighters. Eventually the Russians gave up and withdrew. Then came the attack on the twin towers and the War on Terror, with an invasion of Afghanistan, with the aim of wiping out Al Quaida. Then came the rise of the Taleban fundamentalists who took over most of Afghanistan and have never been driven out entirely. It is expected that the fight against them will have go continue into the indefinite future. What I would like to know is what is the difference between the Muhajeddin and the Taleban?

afghanistan , originally uploaded by soldiersmediacenter . It would be nice if, as a result of the war against terror, Afghanistan were to transform itself into a nice democratic country - like Denmark, perhaps. And to stop living off the proceeds of opium production. And so Condoleeza Rice is visiting Britain as part of her campaign to get other NATO countries to pull their weight. It seems to me that a sense of realism would not go amiss. Britain fought in Afghanistan for many years in the nineteenth century. It was futile. The Soviets failed in the 1980s. The terrain puts all conventional armies at a disadvantage. And what exactly is the fight against? The Taleban are about an idea, and ideas of this kind can never be defeated by force of arms. As for the poppy products, first, there is a shortage of the stuff for legitimate medical use, and second, the epidemic of drug taking in western countries is symptomatic of a deeper malaise in our culture. This is not to say that the...