Afghanistan's ruling Taliban Islamic movement has been widely depicted as a secretive, hierarchical and fanatic movement, loyal to a single religious leader whose sole aim is to create a pure, traditional Islamic society that shuns contact with the modern world and its values.
But as U.S. warplanes pummel the Taliban, and the United States and Pakistan begin working together to form a representative government that could replace it, their leaders are hoping that the Taliban monolith will split under the pressure. They hope that enough of its survivors can be wooed away to help create a broad, durable leadership.
During his visit to Pakistan Tuesday, Secretary of State Colin Powell said he hoped that moderates within the Taliban could be persuaded to join such a government, bringing them into the democratic fold rather than leaving them on the outside to cause trouble.
'We cannot export or ethnically cleanse' Taliban members who remain after the U.S. military operation ends,' Powell said. 'The regime is composed of individuals, people. If we got rid of the regime, we might find some people who are willing to participate in developing a new Afghanistan,' in which all views would be represented or 'taken into account.'
In Islamabad, Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, acknowledged that a majority of his countrymen oppose the U.S.-led military action in neighboring Afghanistan but told Powell during meetings that Pakistan would remain part of the war effort as long as the campaign's goals remain unmet.
Faced with mounting street protests against the bombardment, Musharraf urged U.S. forces to lose no time in apprehending and punishing accused terrorist Osama bin Laden, his militant followers and their sponsors within Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement. To that end, he said, Pakistan will continue to play a critical role in the campaign by sharing intelligence with the United States, extending overflight rights and providing logistical support, such as allowing U.S. forces to use two of its airfields.
At the United Nations Headquarters, Lakhdar Brahimi, the organization's special envoy for Afghanistan, cautioned the Security Council Tuesday not to 'rush' into Afghanistan with a peacekeeping force that lacks the political and financial support required to succeed.
The remarks reflected mounting concern by the U.N. that the organization may be drawn into a military quagmire in Afghanistan. They also represented a setback for Afghanistan's exiled King Mohammed Zahir Shah, a key figure in U.S. efforts to help fashion a new government for Afghanistan should the ruling Taliban militia fall.
Zahir Shah appealed to the council Friday to send U.N. peacekeepers to the country when the U.S.-led airstrike campaign ends.
'We should not rush to establish a peacekeeping operation in Afghanistan,' Brahimi told the 15-member council in his first official briefing since being appointed Oct. 3 to coordinate the U.N. policy toward Afghanistan.
