Word: mujahedins
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...Pakistan's military-intelligenc e agency. A protege of the late President Zia ul-Haq, Gul has wielded enormous power ever since his appointment in 1987. Besides keeping tabs on Zia's political foes, including the Bhutto family, the ISI also distributed foreign money and arms to the mujahedin rebels fighting the Soviet-backed Najibullah regime in Afghanistan...
Perhaps his most effective tactic, however, is to paint the mujahedin as pawns of a foreign power. Afghans abhor foreign invaders, and now that the Soviet army has gone, Najibullah has begun harping on how much the rebels are run by Pakistan and the U.S. His case has been helped by recent news accounts that Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had ordered Lieut. General Hamid Gul, head of Pakistan's military intelligence organization (ISI) to launch the bloody Jalalabad assault. Gul and the ISI are unmistakably doing their best to direct the mujahedin operations, but it seems likely that...
...fighting and create a broad-based coalition government that would include the Kabul Communists. Confident that the rebels' star was in the ascendant, the White House refused the request. But disappointment over the guerrillas' military failure has led policymakers to debate the wisdom of eyes-closed support to the mujahedin. For now, though, the U.S. has apparently decided to stand firm. "In a nutshell," said one adviser, "we still think our guys can win, and there is no reason for them, or us on their behalf, to sue for peace...
...mujahedin would almost certainly refuse a power-sharing deal anyway. The official rebel position is that Najibullah can have an amnesty but his surrender of power is a precondition to peace talks. In their view, he is the enemy, and Afghans have little inclination to forgive foes. "How can you expect the people to forget the blood loss of families, the destruction of entire villages?" asks a guerrilla leader in Peshawar. "How can you expect them to give up that feeling and say, 'Fine, let's sit down and talk'? It is like asking the Jews to pardon the Nazis...
WORLD: Despite common wisdom, mujahedin rebels are bogged down in their fight against the Afghan regime...