There is a Taliban. They are called the Abu Obeida al-Jarrah Brigade and they even include several former inmates of Guantanamo. They are the second largest faction in the opposition and are the people responsible for assassinating General Younis last month. True, there is no Pakistan next door (though I dispute that Pakistan is supplying weapons to the Taliban). Neither is it a destroyed country like Afghanistan, nevertheless it is a tribally and regionally divided country (like Afghanistan). with a future government that will have to deal with those divisions and like Afghanistan has the potential to explode into tribal and ideological factionalism. Like Afghanistan a government is being installed by the West who have chosen one side in a civil war. (in Afghanistan it was the Northern Alliance) Like Afghanistan the rebel forces were losing until Western firepower propelled them to power. Like Afghanistan, the regime installed is deeply divided along tribal and ideological lines. Finally, like Afghanistan, the West rushed into an ill concieved open ended conflict with little understanding of the nature of the country. The analogy is limited, I accept, nevertheless there are enough similarities to serve as a warning for the future.
