Troubles Filling Afghanistan's Power Vacuum

Nov. 14 -- Landlocked, squashed between six countries, and serving as a perennial hunting ground for empire-seekers, Afghanistan has been a pawn in the world's geopolitical games for centuries — and its inhabitants instinctively understand the bitter price they pay for it.

The chessboard has been such a fitting metaphor for the country, that as the international community scrambles to establish a multi-ethnic power-sharing coalition to administer Afghanistan, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made a promise to the Afghan people earlier this week.

"No more Great Games," said Straw, referring to the race of diplomatic stealth between Britain and imperial Russia for control of the region in the 19th century.

Afghanistan is once again up for grabs. The various factions of the Northern Alliance that forced the Taliban from Kabul and other key cities are now poised to play roles in a future government. Just what that role is has yet to be determined.

And then there is the issue of Afghanistan's neighbors and how they play into the scene.

The international community today is arguably wiser from history's lessons, but many of the surrounding countries and the United States and Russia come to the table with their own sets of priorities.

At stake are issues of domestic stability, ethnic allegiances, trucking rights and access to lucrative gas pipelines. And experts fear that at times, the countries with the biggest stakes in Afghanistan may find themselves sitting at opposite ends of the political chessboard.

Six-Plus-Two May Not Equal Consensus

With the Afghan capital of Kabul under Northern Alliance control and a potentially dangerous power vacuum threatening the war-ravaged country, the focus has now shifted to what is commonly called the "six-plus-two," an alliance of Afghanistan's six neighbors plus Russia and the United States.

Comprised of the governments of Pakistan, China, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Russia and the United States, the "six-plus-two" group was created by the U.N's envoy for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, in 1997. But frustrated with Pakistan's frequent obstructions and its refusal to respond to repeated calls to stop backing the Taliban, Brahimi stepped down as a U.N. envoy two years later.