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dominant ethnic group, which includes about 40 percent of the population
-- and other ethnic and tribal groups to support a new government. Haq,
a longtime mujahedeen commander during the Soviet-Afghan war, was an important
player in an ever-evolving U.S. strategy to form a government to replace
Afghanistan's ruling Islamic militia.
"It
was a devastating blow to Afghanistan, currently and in the future, because
this was one of the very few people who was trying to bring about a sensible
cohesion for the future of the country," said author Kurt Lohbeck, a friend
of Haq and author who has written about the conflict with the Soviets.
A former
U.S. government official who helped Haq arrange and finance his return
to Afghanistan said his trip was coordinated with U.S. intelligence to
improve fighting capabilities and coordination of opposition forces and
to try to persuade some Taliban forces to lay down their arms or defect
to the opposition.
"We
need Afghans who will occupy territory and drive out or kill al Qaeda,"
said Anatol Lieven, an analyst for the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace. "If we can't find Afghans that will do that, then we've got to do
it ourselves on the ground and that would be a terrible business lasting
a very long time."
Some
of Afghanistan's neighbors -- Iran, Russia and India -- have supported
opposition factions from different ethnic groups, and President Bush and
Secretary of State Colin Powell have tried to move everyone to the same
page in recent days
"It's
a great game for very small stakes, actually -- or at least it was until
the 11th of September, which raised the stakes enormously," Lieven said.
"It's pathetic in a way. Afghanistan is one of the poorest societies on
Earth."
The
Taliban said they captured Haq near the Afghan capital, Kabul. He and two
associates were arrested Friday morning, tried Friday afternoon on charges
of spying for the United States and executed by day's end, Taliban officials
and independent sources in Pakistan said.
He
had lived in exile in Pakistan for the past few years and made no secret
of his desire to rally Afghans against the Taliban.
But
Haq was not the only figure in the U.S. strategy. Another exiled anti-Taliban
leader, Hamid Karzai, is believed to be on a similar mission to undermine
the Taliban near Kandahar. Karzai, like Haq, is a prominent Pashtun.
The
country's exiled king, Mohammad Zahir Shah, has become a rallying force.
Haq was working on the former king's behalf when he was caught Friday.
The
Northern Alliance has been battling the Taliban in northern Afghanistan
since 1996, but it is mostly made up of the country's ethnic minorities
-- Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Hazara and Aimak. Northern Alliance forces
have been unable to hold more than 10 percent of the country, but U.S.
airstrikes in the past week have been aimed at helping them advance.
Pakistan
supported the Taliban and remains the only country to recognize it as Afghanistan's
government, even as it aids the U.S. antiterrorist campaign. Its leader,
Gen. Pervez Musharraf, said Haq's reported execution was unlikely to have
"any effect whatsoever" on attempts to replace the Taliban.
"Whatever
is going on, whatever the ethnic groupings and power struggle, power equation
in Afghanistan, he did not feature enough in any one of them," the Pakistani
president said.
However,
other Pakistani officials contradicted Musharraf's position, saying Haq's
death would be a big setback to the U.S.-led effort.
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