Divide Afghanistan Along Tribal Lines

Re “U.S., Allies Urge Afghan Rivals to Govern Together,” Nov. 14: After WWI, the Allies drew some lines on a map and created Afghanistan. It now is evident that combining the three major tribes of the area was less than optimal. As we research the varied options for a post-Taliban government, would it not make more sense to divide the country along ethnic/tribal lines, rather than succumb to inertia and leave the country as is, the only guarantee of which is more tribal conflict? Creating three functional countries where now exists one nonfunctional one would seem a rational choice, and the choice most likely to create peace in the region.

Dave Cavena

Glendora

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Pakistan has expressed displeasure at the Northern Alliance’s occupation of Kabul (“Kabul’s Fall Stirs Anxiety in Pakistan,” Nov. 14). Even after all the cruelty and oppression inflicted by the Taliban on its own people, Pakistan still prefers to maintain a terrorist regime in place and is going out of its way to preserve any vestiges of the savage regime it has helped finance and put in place.

Let’s hope our government has the wisdom this time to ignore Pakistan’s advice and support a pluralistic, democratic government. Pakistan’s leaders would have kept on supporting the Taliban had it not been obvious we were going to war with or without them. And let the Northern Alliance continue its advance. Unless we truly think the Taliban is a better alternative.

Nabil El Cheikh

Arcadia

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Once again the U.S. is rejoicing because an opposition force has conquered the capital of Afghanistan, and once again we are ignoring the fact that this force, like the one it replaces, is undemocratic.

There is an indigenous group in Afghanistan committed to democracy and equality. It is known as RAWA (Revolutionary Assn. of the Women of Afghanistan). Until the U.S. insists that this group be a part of any new government, the idiocy of our former support for the Taliban will be repeated in our current support for the Northern Alliance.

Hadassa Gilbert

Los Angeles

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Hundreds of thousands of people are going to die miserably of starvation in Afghanistan unless we call an immediate halt to the bombing. The food is there, and organizations such as Oxfam and the Red Cross are ready to deliver it. But the bombing has halted transport, accidentally hit warehouses stocking food and disrupted food distribution networks. Americans are a humanitarian people. We must not be guilty of causing this terrible human tragedy.

Ann Edelman

Los Angeles