Meeting Kicks Off Afghan Nation-Building

Nov. 26 -- The crumbling buildings and pock-marked streets of Afghanistan's capital city are painful reminders of the last time the country tried to build a broad-based government among its many warlords.

Shortly after the government was established in 1992, one rejected warlord shelled Kabul for months, others played hopscotch with their allegiances, squabbling over positions in the government, ultimately leaving thousands dead.

Now, just about a decade later, the people of Afghanistan will try it again.

On Tuesday, four groups will meet in Bonn, Germany, to take the first steps towards what the U.N. Security Council has demanded be a "broad-based, multi-ethnic and fully representative" government.

Hopes for a new era of peace are high, but many who are familiar with the country are cautious. The country had been in a state of warfare before 1992, and conditions are little different today. Many of the warlords then are still in power today.

Then there is the well-known Afghan antipathy towards outsiders. The current war that ousted the repressive Taliban regime was made possible by a U.S. campaign against terrorism — but the subsequent peace is also expected to require outside involvement as well.

Early Speed Bumps

There have already been hints of the difficulties to come. The most obvious comes from the Northern Alliance, the rebel force which has taken most of the ground formerly occupied by the Taliban.

On Nov. 15, the alliance, a loose affiliation of soldiers from Afghanistan's ethnic minorities, seized Kabul despite fears among the global community that they would not be acceptable to Pashtun Afghans, who make up the country's dominant ethnic group.

The rebels said they had no choice but to move in and fill the void left by retreating Taliban forces, claiming they would only act in a peacekeeping capacity.

Less than a week later, the Northern Alliance's top political leader, Burhanuddin Rabbani, moved into Kabul and claimed the presidency.