Northern Alliance shouldn't bite the hand that fed it

Afghanistan's Northern Alliance wouldn't be where it is today without international support, and this is no time for its leaders to start acting like they can go it alone.
The alliance caused an impasse in talks assembled this week in Bonn, Germany, to discuss the future of Afghanistan now that the repressive Taliban regime has been deposed.
Even as nature abhors a vacuum, so does politics, and so there is a need for an undisputed authority to keep the peace in Afghanistan once the last remnants of the Taliban surrender or are destroyed. Although the Northern Alliance, with significant backing from the United States, has led the fight against the Taliban, the alliance is not the heir to the Taliban throne. The complicated tribal and ethnic divisions in Afghanistan make that impossible.
The only way the Northern Alliance minority would be able to hold onto power in Afghanistan would be through establishment of a repressive regime, just as the Taliban did for five years. That would assure more strife and civil war in Afghanistan and continuing suffering for its people.
The right track: At the meeting in Bonn, various factions were working toward establishing an appointed interim council that would oversee the rebuilding of Afghanistan as a constitutional democracy.
Virtually all sides agreed on the need, as well, for an interim, international peacekeeping force.
The Northern Alliance is sending mixed signals on the interim council and a very clear signal that it is opposed to international peacekeepers.
Afghanistan today is not much different than it was in the days after the Soviets were driven out and before the Taliban consolidated power. Dozens of factions and warlords -- some still acknowledging the Northern Alliance, others beginning to demonstrate their own sense of independence -- are claiming territory and setting up checkpoints.
The Northern Alliance must recognize that it does not have the moral authority or the military horsepower to keep the situation from unraveling.
If the alliance wants to have any say in the future of Afghanistan it should recognize now that its best chance lies in cooperating with the United Nations in the job of keeping the peace and building a new nation.
Potential: Post-Taliban Afghanistan has the potential for providing Afghans of all backgrounds with an improved standard of living. The outside world is motivated by both self-interest and true humanitarian concern to help build a nation where the Afghan people will prosper and where terrorist cults led by the likes of Osama bin Laden will not be welcome.
The Northern Alliance should stop biting the hand that fed its appetite for arms, supplies and firepower beyond its wildest dreams. It should drop its opposition to an international peace-keeping force now and help build a better Afghanistan tomorrow..