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>Date: Fri, 05 Oct 2001 00:57:27 -0700
> Samantha Atkins <samantha@objectent.com> extropians@extropy.org Re: So far so goodReply-To: extropians@extropy.org
>
>Miriam English wrote:
>>
>> I certainly hope so.
>>
>> I am a little worried by something a friend said to me recently that the
>> Northern Afgani rebels who are being backed by the West are actually worse
>> than the Taliban, in that they use murder, rape, and pillage in the normal
>> course of war (the Taliban though wicked, cruel, and murderous had some
>> restraint at least). I have no idea if what he said is true, but if he is
>> then hold onto your hats everybody -- here we go again... prepare for worse
>> killers being equipped by the "goodies" again.
>>
>> I fervently hope my friend is wrong, and that the powers that be have
>> learned more than squat from the nasty errors of the past...
>>
>
>They probably haven't.
>
>I've heard the same thing about the "northern alliance" and many
>Afghanis opinions of them. It would be better if somehow a
>neutral elections could be set up to form a new governing body.
>But I doubt it would work in Afghanistan.
>
The plan is for the assassinated Massoud's deputy commander (whose owh wife and daughter were assassinated by the Taliban) to lead the Northern Alliance to victory, and then to hand over things to the deposed king (whose reign, prior to 1973, is fondly remembered as a time of peace), who will not attempt to reassume the throne, but instead call a dirga (a council of all afghan clans, the kind of thing that has a thousand-year tradition) to establish the framework for a free and democratic coalition government, and set a timetable for local and national elections. Such a government would be centrally weak and hard to abuse, being basically the glue for a confederation of semiautonomous clans, in contrast to the iron fisted talibanic control.
>- samantha
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