Can the United States trust the Northern Alliance?
Trusting a group with a history of mismatched allegiances and inhumane tendencies could prove to be a risky move for the United States. Figures leading the faction were once those dragging Afghanistan through a period of aggression plagued by plundering, violence and rape. One Alliance member Rashid Dostum abandoned his post as general in Afghanistan’s communist army, turned on his President Najibullah and joined the rebels. And it was just a year ago that reports suggested the Alliance was to collapse. Who else is a part of the group? The group is lead by Burhanuddin Rabbani who is recognized by most world governments as the country’s legitimate ruler. He is a former Kabul University professor of Islamic law and became leader in 1992 after the Mujahadeen ousted Najibullah. Rabbani replaced Ahmed Shah Massood after he was killed by a suicide bomber just two days prior to the attacks on Washington and New York Ethnically, the rebels are diverse. Rabbani is a Tajik, the Shiites are Hazar
