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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zonder who wrote (2827)	1/21/2003 7:59:06 PM
From: Brumar89	Respond to of 25898

It was in existence but probably not called the Northern Alliacne till the Taliban took over all but the northern part of the country. The Northern Alliance was the remains of the United Front. They even ran the country though badly prior to the Taliban taking over. Needless to say, it is incorrect to present the Northern Alliance as an American creation. They were and are an ally given that we and they had a common enemy. The United Front represents the government driven from power by the Taliban in 1996. It is still recognized by the United Nations, which gives it diplomatic representation at Afghanistan's embassies. The front is a fractured group. The main military force represents the country's second largest ethnic group, the Tajiks, and has been joined by militias representing smaller ethnic groups, such as the Uzbeks and the Hazaris in isolated pockets of the country. Alliance leaders say they oppose the Taliban's strict enforcement of its interpretation of Islam. They are historical rivals of the Taliban's Pashtun ethnic community, which comprises about 40 percent of Afghanistan's population, but say they want to build an inclusive state Key figures Ahmad Shah Masood: The legendary Tajik military leader was the visible figure in the alliance until he was assassinated by suicide bombers posing as journalists two days before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. His main base was in the Panjsher valley, north of Kabul, where he fought first the Soviet Union, then the Taliban for more than two decades. Muhammad Fahim: Masood's successor as the alliance's military chief. The general has avoided the spotlight and is far less well known. He was previously in charge of security for the alliance. Abdul Rashid Dostum: The ethnic Uzbek warlord once worked with Soviet forces against Masood but joined him in the alliance after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban. His forces are based around the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Burnahuddin Rabbani: A former professor of Islamic law at Kabul University, he became president of a mujahedeed-led Afghan government in 1992 but was ousted by the Taliban in 1996. He remains the alliance's political leader. unomaha.edu