"Extremist forces are making a comeback in the Pashtun belt by coalescing around Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. An ethnic Pashtun, career warlord and former Afghan prime minister, Hekmatyar is now one of the biggest threats to Afghan stability. Afghan officials and Western diplomats in Kabul say there is clear evidence that Hekmatyar--who killed thousands of civilians in a vain bid to capture the city during the country's early 1990s civil war--has joined forces with Al Qaeda and Taliban remnants to destabilize the fledgling Karzai government."
That and other points Rashid notes seem to point to your tar baby scenario developing nicely so far, Carrol.
Todd
_________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com