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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: FaultLine who wrote (10385)	11/14/2001 9:05:08 PM
From: Elsewhere	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

<The Taliban and Al Queda will be isolated and pinned down in winter, with no supply lines and little communication in a hostile environment where the natives will not help them.> From the STRATFOR article: "Supply For now, Pakistan is at least officially off limits to the Taliban. However, the border is extremely rugged, remote and porous; it also cuts artificially through ethnic Pushtun territory, greater "Pushtunistan." The Taliban's ideological and ethnic allies in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province are already preparing to support a guerrilla war. Pakistani media is reporting that some Taliban forces and Afghan Arabs are already regrouping inside Pakistan. The government of Pakistan nurtured and supported the Taliban as a tool of national interest. Links with Islamabad remain, and if Pakistani interests are not taken into account by a future Afghan government, restraints on pro-Taliban activity may evaporate. ... Pakistan is not the only potential source of logistics support. While in power, the Taliban aided Islamic rebels in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and could draw on them for support in return. Additionally, although Tehran was hostile to the Taliban government, elements within Iran may have a use for the Taliban as guerrillas. Iran fears the United States had ulterior motives behind its attack on Afghanistan, and intends to establish a permanent presence there; the Taliban could help preclude that. Afghan factional leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is backed by Iran, has already loudly advocated supporting the Taliban against the United States."