What I would like to see is all of Afghanistan being turned into a UN controlled region for a period of a decade or so. That would give time for us to track down and kill those that need it, and give the UN enough time to build up some basic services. Then we can let them hold elections to form a new government for Afghanistan, at first just electing local leaders but moving up the chain steadily so that a decade after that the UN could return rule to a democratically elected government.

The problems I see with this are many though. First, if the Northern Alliance becomes too powerful then the only practical choice may be to turn power over to them. Unfortunaly this will probably result in another Somalia, where the country is ruled by a hoard of little local warlords. Second, one of Afghanistan's neighboring countries may decide they want a chunk of land as payment for their troubles. This would create a situation where the war is liable to never end as the Taliban would gain a groundswell of local support that they don't have now. Third, the US may decide to occupy Afghanistan and install a government of our choice. This will be wrapped in terms of what I said above, but the end result would very likely be a corporate client state. And finally, even if the UN does take over, there is a good chance they will mess things up. Either by quickly installing a uselessly fragile government, by installing a harsh dictatorship, or by dithering around so long that an anti-UN force forms.

Jay

Nobody said it was going to be easy, but they found people to serve in Bosnia. If they can find people willing to serve in that sniper farm, they can find people willing to serve in a mine field.

In any case, a real UN peacekeeper force would have an easier time then a pure US colonial force. And handing the country back over to the Northern Alliance isn't solving the problem. It's just pushing it off for another generation, if that long.

Jay