Unfortunately, if, Allah forbid, it tipped again in favor of the Tablian, no one would be able to grow his beard back quickly enough.
Carl >Here is a chunk of William Saletan's analysis from Slate, It is very >supportive of Fabio's tipping interpretation. > >http://slate.msn.com/?id=2058705 > >Alex > >In the north, the Taliban's enemies failed to advance. In the south, >they failed to speak up. The American press suggested that the war had >"bogged down," that the United States had "underestimated" the Taliban, >and that the U.S.-led coalition was "falling apart." Complaints of >futility and pointless bloodshed grew into an outcry to halt the >bombing. > >Then, last Friday, Mazar-i-Sharif fell. The Taliban's aura was >punctured. In accelerating succession, other cities fell. War can't move >that fast. It takes days to move your own tanks and troops, much less to >push back the enemy's. But even in Afghanistan, the information age has >arrived. What traveled from city to city in minutes wasn't the armies of >the Northern Alliance, but the news of the Taliban's defeat. Civilians >and Taliban soldiers who had resented the regime lost their fear of it. >Those who had supported the regime lost their confidence in it. Taliban >armies didn't lose their cities in battle; they defected or fled. Each >flight or defection, in turn, provoked others. Sell, sell, sell. > >Now the rout has turned south. Pashtun warlords who refused to stand up >to the Taliban a week ago are rushing to claim pieces of its carcass. >Some Taliban troops fleeing cities are being wiped out by U.S. bombers. >Others are regrouping in the mountains, forgetting that they lack the >supply lines and popular support to win the kind of guerrilla war they >waged against the Soviets. The rest, according to today's New York Times >and Washington Post, are "fading away," "disappearing," "vanishing," >"dissipating," "becoming phantoms," and "returning to their home >villages." > >Morale matters. The army that loses self-confidence and the confidence >of its people loses the war. > >-- >Dr. Alexander Tabarrok >Vice President and Director of Research >The Independent Institute >100 Swan Way >Oakland, CA, 94621-1428 >Tel. 510-632-1366, FAX: 510-568-6040 >Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
