Afghanstan is not something we are going to be able to finesse. The only thing the Taliban will understand is getting killed. I hope we can kill the top bananas first so we can see if the grunts are really so gung ho. If they are, we'll have to kill them too. But there in lies the mistake waiting to happen.

Suppose we kill countless Taliban, they are mostly Pashtun. There is a large reservoir of Pashtun in Pakistan. They will never forget. So even if we are able to install a "friendly government" in Afghanistan, it will be under constant attack from the Pashtun in Pakistan. At best, I think we can hope for dividing the country into north and south. This is mainly a sectarian fight between the Allah-Mongering Pashtun against everyone not Pashtun so they can have all of gloriously rich Afghanistan to themselves. I do not see any way out for the U.S.

Salman Rushdie had a good obvervation, this really is a war of the West against Islam, the medieval, paranoid Islam pushed by bin Laden and the Taliban. They need an enemy to make themselves an alternative to moderate Islam. The West has been chosen as the designated IT. This war (in the large, not merely Afghanistan) will never stop unless Islam changes to be predominately moderate. The rest of the world cannot do that for Islam. It can only do it for itself.

My own belief is there is nothing stopping Islam from sliding into the abyss taking countries and people into it with them. Only when they hit rock bottom and find that with exploding population rates, few economic pluses, and a sense of utter defeat will they throw off the mullahs political chains. It is happening in Iran, it took a generation to start, and it will take another to complete. That leaves the rest us waiting for two generations at least for the Muslim world to repair itself...if they don't wind up blowing up all creation first.

However, I'm dubious that Muslim countries will embrace it. They do not want any foreign, infidel influence. I believe they have the Breshnev doctrine: what's mine is mine and what is yours is open to discussion.

It seems to me that one spiral they can easily slip into is the spiral caused by overpopulation and poverty. The rulers will find some outside force to blame (the idea of taking responsibility seems foreign also). And the mullahs will be there offering the bliss that can only follow true Muslim conversion of everyone in the country. Not rich yet, well, yer not Muslim enough...gotta have that good old time Sharia law in order for the fountain of wealth to be discovered. Meanwhile, I see no effort or belief in population control. "If Allah wills it" is not an effective birth control device since for most men, Allah wills it be used. It isn't a male dominated religion for nothing.

By the way, Saudi Arabia has a population explosion now, more than half the pop. is below 20 (or some incredibly high figure in the near vacinity). They won't all be selling oil. They are not being taught any industrial skills in the Muslim schools. They are being taught the Koran. What will these people do when they reach 18? It might be the only thing they have to do is start a war.