Word: hazaras
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...armed fighters are an alliance in name only. Real control lies with a shifting patchwork of power-hungry warlords, guerrilla warriors and ethnic leaders who came together in the 1980s to fight the Soviet occupation. They make an uneasy blend of minority ethnic groups--Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara--in a predominantly Pashtun country, and include Shi'ite Muslims, despised by the majority Sunnis. As soon as they brought down the Soviet puppet ruler, alliance leaders turned on one another and viciously fought in bloody civil strife. The cosmopolitan capital, once known for its beautiful gardens and monuments, was reduced to rubble...
...Pakistan a compelling interest in influencing the future of their Afghan neighbors. The Russians, through their clients in the former Soviet Republics of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, have supplied arms and on occasion even air support to the Uzbek and Tajik militias, while Iran has supported their fellow Shiite Hazaras in the west. But Pakistan, erstwhile sponsor of the Taliban and currently the West's most important ally in efforts to take down Bin Laden and his Al Qaida network, is hostile to the idea of a United Front takeover, insisting instead that an administration that replaces the Taliban must reflect...
Survival is precarious in Afghanistan, even in the best of times. And this has been among the worst of times. Racked by 20 years of war, first between the Afghans and the Soviets and now between the Taliban forces and the rebellious Northern Alliance that includes Tadjik, Uzbek and Hazara tribes, the country was ill prepared for three years during which nothing but dust seemed to fall from the sparse clouds. Says Sigurd Hanson, Afghanistan director for the International Rescue Committee, an aid agency based in New York City: "Afghans are at the end of their resources...
...Afghanistan does have one main highway, but it merely connects the four main cities like a huge beltway. The country is bisected by the towering Hindu Kush Mountains, and there are few feeder roads. One result: there are still only loose connections between the dominant Pathans and the Uzbek, Hazara, Turkoman, Baluchi and nomadic tribes that make Afghanistan, as James A. Michener once described it, "one of the world's great cauldrons...