The "enemy" we barely know

So they don't all necessarily share the Taliban's opinion of the United States?

I had an interesting experience in 1998 after the U.S.-fired cruise missiles on bases said to be bin Laden's. Ordinary Afghans made a distinction between Americans as a people and America as its political decisions are made. It would be heartening if Americans could give the same considerations to Afghanistan. On the other hand, it's not in the nature of Afghans to respond well to being bullied. They have a saying: As a friend, an Afghan will follow you to hell, but you can't drag him to heaven.

That statement sounds like it was directed at the Taliban, who want to force everyone in the nation to abide by their notions of holiness.

That's why you have this ongoing conflict there. The Taliban is by no means popular. If you've been living under the fear of death and with no civil security, you don't really care who keeps the peace. The Taliban is more of a tribal phenomenon than representative of all Afghanistan. Afghanistan is not one unified country. It's got a half-dozen very different peoples within the same frontier. In the north of the country, you find another people entirely. What's enabled the Taliban to come to power is the same thing that's dogged Afghanistan for years: external forces interfering with the country. They could sort out their problems pretty quickly on their own if it weren't for that.

Do you have any thoughts on what might happen if the U.S. attacks Afghanistan?

It's a very brave person who makes predictions about that part of the world. But I can say that I think that if there were American military action in Afghanistan it would be a complete disaster. Despite not being fond of bin Laden, Afghans don't take well to being invaded, as both the British and the Soviets learned to their chagrin. These are people with nothing left to lose. It would be the ultimate humiliation. And it would not be lost on Muslims around the world, either. This is one of the poorest countries in the world, and it has had to fight off one of the great colonial superpowers, Britain, then one of the modern superpowers, the Soviet Union, only to now be attacked by the last remaining superpower. And the irony is that Afghans would be fighting with U.S. taxpayers' money and with weapons bought with that money.

How does the ordinary Afghan perceive the U.S.?

When the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan, a great many Afghans felt that America, who had sponsored them in the conflict, would help them rebuild their country, which they'd destroyed in the process of fighting communism and, as they saw it, defending the free world. That conflict went on for 10 years, and the Afghans eventually forced the Soviets to withdraw. They feel that there's an unacknowledged debt to them on the part of the free world. Afghanistan was on the sharp edge of the conflict with communism. They were actually fighting it on the ground, and a million or more died in the 10 years of fighting the Soviets.

So even those who don't like the Taliban feel betrayed by the U.S.?

That's probably too strong a term, but they learned a new cynicism about the U.S. In their eyes, the U.S. rolled up its maps and left as soon as the Russians pulled out. It left a bitter feeling.

I can't think of a more freedom-loving country than Afghanistan. That may sound strange to Americans right now, but these people gave everything they had in the fight with the Soviets. That left their country destroyed. In the absence of any help afterward, the country fell apart and became a haven for terrorist groups. Afghans are deeply disappointed that they didn't get much help in rebuilding.

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