No Peace in Kabul

There was a cool if utterly cruel political logic behind the massive rocket attacks launched on the Afghan capital of Kabul last week. The city has been left completely isolated, its transport and communications links cut; there is no power or water. Foreign embassies and U.N. personnel are seeking evacuation, while perhaps 100,000 more citizens have fled.

Behind the mayhem is rebel mujahedin leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who apparently decided he could not afford to allow President Burhanuddin Rabbani's interim government to gain much stability. On Aug. 2, Pakistan's Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif was due to arrive in Kabul, and Hekmatyar's rockets closed the airport. On Aug. 8, Rabbani was to fly to Tehran. The attacks intensified again. Since he was due in Pakistan last week for meetings with Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif, it was predictable that the rockets would come in more heavily than ever. Last week's barrage left 600 people dead and almost 2,000 wounded. "Hekmatyar cannot get power, so he has become a complete spoiler," explains Islamabad columnist Mushahid Hussain. Unless the carnage stops, there may be few spoils left for the victor.