The Taliban are threatening to attack Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan is apparently extraordinarily unstable. And Russia is apparently secretly (secretly?) attacking Taliban forward positions to keep them out of Tajikistan. (If that's true, Russia must be having a nightmare "deja vu" sensation. "Military advisors" indeed.)
You'd think that the Taliban would have enough to cope with, having their country getting pummelled on a daily basis at the moment. Russia may not be able to afford a second front -- they're certainly not making any headway in Chechnya -- but the Taliban can't afford to have another two fronts. They're not equipped to manage a three front war; they'll never hold their own country against the Northern Alliance if they try. (On the other hand, if Uzbekistan collapses, what happens to the forward bases we're using?)
Copyright © 2001, Iain Jackson, after-words.org
[Archives: 2001 and after]
Archives before February 5, 2001
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12/19/2001: vive la france
12/19/2001: princess, redux
12/19/2001: yemen and rumsfeld
12/18/2001: you're NOT in the army now
12/18/2001: interesting donation
12/18/2001: shame on winn dixie, indeed
12/18/2001: saudi princess
12/17/2001: new resolve
12/17/2001: a victim of the attack ... yeah, right
12/17/2001: polluters ho!