Advantage Outsiders
With the balance tilted against it, the Taliban regime will soon find itself vanquished.

Lull Before The Storm
Amid calls for a quick and decisive end to the conflict, Afghanistan has been abuzz with talk of an imminent Northern Alliance ground war against the Taliban.

History's Pointers
The Soviet Union's 10 years campaign in Afghanistan — a conflict that led to a humiliating withdrawal and, some say, its eventual breakup
— can be a learning experience for
the US.

FROM THE EDITOR IN CHIEF

It may seem callous but the response to Operation Enduring Freedom has begun to acquire an air of war-weariness. Our responses to war are shaped largely by the information we receive through television and the written word. By these standards, Afghanistan has been a tough terrain. The lack of an independent view has made it the strangest of wars. It has no conventional exchange of fire, a war without battles. All you have is a one-sided offensive of hi-tech bombs raining down on a Stone Age landscape. From the Afghanistan under attack all you see are selected images of injured civilians in hospitals or refugees rushing to the border. I am yet to see the face of a Taliban soldier. The "war on terrorism" is now proving to be as diffused and faceless as the wars being waged against drugs, hunger or disease.

With the war dragging on into the third week, the big question being asked is: how long will it last? There are certain circumstances which give a sense of urgency to this question-running out of targets to bomb, the onset of the bitter Afghan winter, the Ramzan period in mid-November, the reluctance to let the Northern Alliance take over Kabul, the growing Islamic backlash and the fear of body bags in a ground war. Strategic affairs expert W.P.S. Sidhu in Washington, Executive Editor Raj Chengappa in northern Afghanistan and Senior Editor S. Prasannarajan in Delhi produced a comprehensive answer to the question about the duration of the war for our cover story.

For a more intimate knowledge of the battlefield, we located three Russian army officers who had served with the Soviet occupation forces. General Makhmud Gareyev, General Mikhail Moiseyev and Colonel Roman Sudjayev, who now live in Moscow, explain just how a country with so little can find the strength to resist. Gareyev warned, "The Americans seem to be repeating our mistakes. Before going in they must decide who they will ally with."

They have decided who their enemy is but have problems deciding who their friends are. America's eternal dilemma.

(Aroon Purie)

MetroScape

Looking Glass

Mumbai Restaurant:
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Bangalore Restaurant: Chung Wah

Kolkata Exhibition : Life Is Beautiful