General In Command
As the US attack on Afghanistan continues, the divergent pulls of pro-Taliban Islamists and pro-West "pragmatists" heighten tensions in Pakistan, forcing President Pervez Musharraf to sack some of his most powerful deputies.

Gains And Losses
The war in Afghanistan changed all the regional equations. The Taliban and the jehadis were abandoned by Pakistan and India got a chance to regain a foothold in Afghanistan. A report on the diplomatic balance sheet.

A Prize For Sir Vidia
The new Nobel laureate in literature is a civilisational man who travels in great style.

FROM THE EDITOR IN CHIEF

Media and wars have an irresistible attraction for each other. Wars are full of stories-of heroism, victory, defeat, death, blood and gore. The kind of stuff that sells publications and brings in eyeballs for TV. The people who declare wars, the politicians, need the media to propagate their cause and ensure public support. For those who fight the wars, the soldiers, the media gives them their moment in the sun. Depending on circumstances, the relationship between the media and the combatants ranges from hostility to cosiness.

	Chengapa (right) and Banerjee in Afghanistan

The nature of the conflict in Afghanistan poses peculiar problems for the media. The country under attack has expelled all journalists except the Al Jazeera TV channel of Qatar, which has a mysterious relationship with the Taliban and Al Qaida. Consequently, the media has access to only one side of the story-the Northern Alliance and the US. Even the usually media-savvy Americans are strictly controlling media access. The paradox is that despite the latest gizmos like digital cameras, satellite phones and the Internet, reporting on the first war of the 21st century is very constricted.

There are additional challenges for the Indian media. Pakistan has banned visits of Indian journalists and the Taliban has never entertained the Indian press. That leaves a small and treacherous stretch controlled by the Northern Alliance as the only area of the battlefront accessible to us. It took Executive Editor Raj Chengappa and Chief Photographer Dilip Banerjee three weeks to reach northern Afghanistan. They are the only print journalists from India to provide a first-hand account of the war from Afghanistan.

We invited Major-General (retd) Ashok Mehta to draw up scenarios on how the war will unfold. We have a report on Pakistan's precarious journey from civil unrest to what many fear a civil war. We also drew a balance sheet of India's diplomacy since September 11. After all, India's most profound gains or losses from the war will be diplomatic. Whatever they may be, it will be a long haul before peace and stability return to our neighbourhood.

(Aroon Purie)

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