Who can we trust? Can the Northern Alliance be trusted? What guaranty do we have that in the future they will not emerge like another Taliban under a different name? Why do we think that once the Taliban is exterminated the situation in Afghanistan will return to a normality – which has never really existed in this country? Their troubled history shows us all the wars, occupations, regime changes and the sufferings and misery the people had to endure most of the time.

There are some 20 ethnic groups in this country where the chief common-link is the religion of Islam. How can all those groups, which are themselves subdivided in tribes, be united and create an atmosphere of freedom, understanding and peace for all? It is in the mind of many that once the Taliban is destroyed, peace will come to Afghanistan. But what kind of peace and how long this peace will last?

Arlington