How can we best help the Afghanistan people? Too much help and we appear to be bribing them. Not enough help and we appear indifferent. It is a delicate balance.

[link|http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/central/09/25/ret.afghan.opposition.ap/index.html|
Afghan opposition a web of loyalties, rivalries]
September 25, 2001 Posted: 3:51 PM EDT (1951 GMT)

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) -- To figure out who is on Washington's side in Afghanistan is a bewildering task. There's a man who once declared a war of his own on America, and another who played host to Osama bin Laden when he first came to Afghanistan.

The shifting forces in a country steeped in tribal rivalries now boil down to the Taliban militia and the northern alliance -- currently the United States' only identifiable friend in Afghanistan.

The northern alliance, which has resisted the Taliban since it seized power exactly five years ago Wednesday, is headed by a sixtyish scholar and poet named Burhanuddin Rabbani, who is still recognized as Afghanistan's president by the United States and other Western powers, and holds Afghanistan's U.N. seat.

The current leadership seems less inclined to make the same mistakes of the past.
Maybe they'll figure out a way to let the Afghan people decide their own fate (with International assistance).

We'll have to wait and see.