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Down crew a Russia T-55 tan ning up a shot. As if orchestrated by the muezzin, the tank round explodes in a ball of fire just as the call to prayer ends. The shot is accurate and a grey smoke appears on the opposite hill. The tank man slowly walks up to our position and the fighters squat down. Looking overthe ridge, suggests that I sit down. Why? "We are waiting for return fire." I sit down on the ground with them and wait for the incoming ge. Since I am supposed to be on the other side, with Massoud, feels ironic to say the least. It doesn't take long for the shells to hit, but luckily they are mark. Thank god for cheap Iranian shells. As we wait for the subside, I joke about the mujahideen helmet: the black turban. Thei reply is, "Our hair will protect us and, of course, Allah as welL" F YOU DIDN'T COME HERE TO DIE ... I am invited to have tea in their command post-actually a steel cargo rn,nt.,in,,,. The grubby primer-painted container smells of dirty feet, grease The commander shows up and apologizes: "If I knew you were we would have fired more rounds." Then he promises to fire off a of rockets for me. Sitting on the hill, listening to the crump of shell fire, the sound of explosions rolling through the mountains and the constant bullets overhead, it strikes me as a strange way to spend one's life. But I have come better understand this deadly place. Waiting for the return fire on that stony ridge, I turn to my young mullah friend and ask him why dig trenches or seek protection from the explosions. He gives me l.lUILLILdl look and replies, "If you didn't come here to die, then why are u here?" Since my trip, the US government has sent well over a hundred million ollars worth of high-tech missiles into Afghanistan in a badly botched pt to assassinate Usama bin Laden and the young men training to jihad, or spiritual struggle, in Kashmir, Algeria and other war-torn regions in the Muslim world. This amount equals what Saudi Arabia spe i iban rebuild their country, and it is far more than any NGO II ever spend on rebuilding this shattered land. The Taliban have always maintained there are three stages to eir movement: jihad, the fight to consolidate the country; peace, in order to create a government and rebuild the country restoration of the local government In the two-and-a-half years that I have been following the liban, they have kept to their goal. The one undeniable fact is have brought peace to the majority of the country. The Northern nee is the last hope for a Western-supported Afghan government, this battle is proving to be a long drawn-out stalemate. You'll never understand the horror and heartbreak hanistan until you have broken bread with the Afghani people and ed to their side of the story. The Taliban's methods are shocking nd their support, beyond the south, is thinly based. They have offered negotiate a settlement with the Northern Alliance and there that Usama bin Laden has been asked to move his operations nya because he stands directly in the way of Taliban acceptance UN. But it is sad to note that a bigger obstacle to UN "n"<>n,b"r<> ir stand on the rights of women. America picks and ies these days and is successfully impoverishing the alre';lav-oc)or of Cuba, Iraq, North Korea and now Afghanistan for the sins r unelected leaders. The US has created a Catch 22 in Afghanistan where the upports the fractured and besieged Northern Alliance-a govern exists in name only-and, at the same time, will not work to rebuild country. Meanwhile all Afghans-men and women, young and old, i and Shia, militants and pacifists-remain destitute, unhelped acized by a world that would rather send death than a helping hand. II WEST AFRICAN SAFARIS The Specialist in Travel to the Western Part of the African Continent m Operators of safari camps in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone Game Viewing -Tented Safaris- Tribal Art & Customs-Ballooning- Rafting- Fishing Send for Color Brochures: West African Safaris, Inc., PO Box 365, Oakdale, CA 95361 Toll free reservations call 888-454-7710, Fax 209 847-7710 CoIYIClde'fl.blly, �e ed�e of sc{'fI.lty fVl'fl.S f1cht alo'fl.� SIde �e ed�e of st"j'/eo The most technologically advanced kayaking helmet ever produced.