BTW, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE NORTHERN ALLIANCE?

They provided the foot soldiers that allowed us to overthrow the Taliban in 2001 and I haven't heard anything about them for a long time. I went to LexisNexis and found this article from the wingnut Washington Times.

Afghan warlords will fight if U.S. gives weapons

Jason Motlagh and Sara A. Carter The WASHINGTON TIMES
Originally published 04:45 a.m., September 22, 2009, updated 07:10 a.m., September 22, 2009

SHIBERGHAN, Afghanistan | Afghanistan's long-established warlords and tribal leaders are offering to step up their fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda if the United States sends them more money and weapons, reprising the role they played before 2001.

"If you support me, I will destroy the Taliban and al Qaeda," Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum told The Washington Times in an interview at his northern stronghold. "I don't want to be a minister, not even the defense minister. I need to be with my soldiers. Give me the task and I will do it."

More than two dozen other warlords still hold significant power in Afghanistan. They include provincial governors Atta Mohammed Noor, Gul Agha Sherzai and Ismail Khan.

Several of these former mujahedeen, as the anti-Soviet freedom fighters were known, said they also want a shift in U.S. strategy.

"Afghanistan and its people are the only ones who can truly defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda," said a former commander in the Northern Alliance who fought alongside Ahmad Shah Massoud against the Taliban.