Some of the gloomier forecasts about the net result of the United States' war against the Taliban have turned out, so far at least, to be too pessimistic by half. One school of Afghan-watchers, for example, was convinced that as soon as the old regime of Islamic zealots was driven out, the alliance of victors would simply split up along tribal lines and start slaughtering one another. On that score, at least, things look a bit better than anybody expected. At a reception this week to celebrate the opening of a field hospital in Mazar-i-Sharif, the ancient capital of northern Afghanistan, the atmosphere was full of multi-ethnic bonhomie. Abdul Rashid Dostum, a warlord and leader of the Uzbek minority, was fraternising happily with his Tajik rival (and partner in the anti-Taliban coalition), Atta Mohammed, in a crowd that also included aid workers, UN bureaucrats and―perhaps significantly―two American generals.
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