Riding The Tide
The US endorsement of Pakistan's position on Kashmir bolsters Musharraf's fortunes even as anti-American outrage gathers steam.

Powell And Patience
President Bush's invitation to Vajpayee for a one-on-one in Washington next month makes up for the disappointment in New Delhi in the wake of Colin Powell's visit.

Autumn Of Turmoil
The Northern Alliance waits and watches the US moves in anticipation of a post-US-attack power struggle with the Taliban.
A look at the mood and the ground realities in Kabul.

COVER STORY: DESPATCH FROM AFGHANISTAN

Disconcerting Bonhomie

	CAPTIVE AUDIENCE: Taliban prisoners taken by the Northern Alliance are lined up in the yard of a jail in Khwaja Bahawudin

Alliance leaders are, however, concerned that the US has so far not heavily targeted Taliban frontline positions in the cities it has bombed. Nor has it struck in other major provinces where the alliance and the Taliban forces are eyeball to eyeball. Last week, the alliance watched with dismay the apparent bonhomie between the US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad.

Their suspicions grew when Musharraf said that there is still scope for a moderate Taliban government. That meant that the game of winning over key Taliban commanders and isolating its leader Mullah Mohammed Omar was underway. If this happens, any new power structure in Afghanistan would still have a substantial Taliban presence. It would suit Pakistan as it would continue to have a say in Afghanistan affairs.

The Northern Alliance response was swift. Its articulate ophthalmologist-turned-politician leader, Abdullah Abdullah, who heads the Foreign Ministry, categorically ruled out such an arrangement. In Khwaja Bahawudin, the alliance force's military headquarters bordering Tajikistan, he said: "There is no such thing as a moderate Taliban." The alliance has an obvious dislike for Pakistan and its constant interference in Afghan affairs. It was Pakistan's overt backing of the Taliban that saw it lose power in 1996 and since then run a Government in exile, headquartered in Faizabad.

In fact, the real worry for alliance forces are the numerous former Pakistani officers and militants who have helped train the Taliban army and are now active in the battlefield. Together with Osama bin Laden's Al Qaida organisation, they form a sizeable and committed army.

Evidence of Pakistani presence in the Taliban forces comes partly from radio messages coming from enemy lines monitored by Alliance forces. Urdu phrases such as udhar chalo (go there) and aa jao (come over) are frequently used. The alliance suspects that despite Musharraf's assurances to the US, Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is still active and is trying to woo wavering Taliban commanders. And it is not just radio evidence. In Panjshir, the alliance forces proudly exhibit 18 extremists of Pakistani origin who they have taken prisoner in the past couple of years from various frontlines. They are housed in a picturesque jail in Barak valley built on a hill beside the swift flowing Panjshir river.

Among them is the bearded and bespectacled Salauddin Khalid, 27, who was arrested in a battle in Jabalsaraj on the Panjshir-Kabul road four years ago. The years of imprisonment haven't made Khalid lose his zeal. He says he was a commander with the Harkut-ul-Mujahideen, trained in one of bin Laden's camps in Khost in Pakistan. He has even met bin Laden and was impressed by his affectionate behaviour and the "fire in his eyes" for Islam.

MetroScape

Looking Glass

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