Support for Rebels Sparks Debate
By SALLY BUZBEE
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Even as they fight to push the Taliban from control of Afghanistan, U.S. officials are struggling over how much support to give rebels on the ground, and what to do when _ or if _ the Taliban is ousted.
The complex mix of ethnic groups inside Afghanistan and the country's history of chaotic civil war make any solutions harder.
President Bush, despite earlier opposition to "nation-building," now says the United Nations should lead an effort to ensure that Afghanistan doesn't fall into renewed fighting once the U.S. military has defeated the Taliban and shut down Osama bin Laden's terror network.
The United States would play a role, as yet unspecified, in any U.N. effort. But it is too early to say if U.S. troops would be part of any future peacekeeping, the president's spokesman said Friday.
"After the military mission is complete ... then it will be appropriate to work with other nations ... to help create stability in Afghanistan," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. At this point, "It's important to first let the United States military fight and win this war."
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the United Nations has begun planning to work "with the Afghan people to bring stability and peace to their country." But the world body's role remains unclear because the Afghans will not accept any government that isn't homegrown.
Bush said during a news conference Thursday that the United States must not favor one group over another.
Indeed, unless all ethnic groups are represented in a post-Taliban government, Afghanistan could once again face the same type of battling among warlords that allowed the Taliban to sweep to control in the first place, said Paul Burton, an analyst for Jane's Information Group.
The Taliban, who are under U.S. attack for harboring bin Laden and his al-Qaida network, control about 90 percent of Afghanistan, and the northern alliance rebels the rest. Al-Qaida has been blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon.
Few people believe the northern alliance could survive as a government alone. It is made up primarily of minority ethnic groups, and thus viewed with suspicion by the country's Pashtun majority.
In addition, the rebel leaders are themselves factionalized, with little loyalty to one another, even though they call themselves the United Front, Burton said.
Pakistan, a key American ally, does not want the northern alliance in power. A senior Pakistani official said earlier this week that his government and U.S. officials had agreed the rebels should not enter Afghanistan's capital of Kabul until a post-Taliban government is in place.
U.S. military officials are in touch with the northern alliance rebels, but the United States is not coordinating with the rebels to target places that would help them advance against the Taliban, said Marine Maj. Gen. Henry P. Osman, a senior planner for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
That decision, Osman said, is a political one.
Forces aligned with the northern alliance reportedly captured Chaghcharan, in the mountains of central Afghanistan, in the last 48 hours. The town is on the primary east-west route through the central part of the country, connecting Kabul in the east with Herat in the west.
Of Afghanistan's population of 24 million, 44 percent are Pashtuns, 25 percent are Tajiks, 10 percent are Hazara, 8 percent are Uzbeks and the rest are from smaller groups.
The Taliban are mostly Pashtuns, but there are many disaffected Pashtuns, especially in areas far from the religious capital of Kandahar in the south. The Pashtuns have numerous tribal leaders, some stronger than others.
Supporting the Taliban are roughly 500 Arab fighters from bin Laden's al-Qaida network, used to spearhead assaults because of their battle experience.
The northern alliance rebels include Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazara. The Tajiks are fighting the Taliban on two fronts: north of Kabul and east of Taloqan. Uzbek forces are near Mazar-e Sharif in the north, where heavy fighting have been reported recently.
In the center of the country are two other groups, one led by Hazara, the other led by a former Herat governor of uncertain ethnicity, according to a senior Defense Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Even if the Taliban government were to fall, it would likely remain a movement in Afghanistan, with adherents who could continue fighting, the official said.
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