Citizens buy winter clothes in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Friday, October 19. Photo: AP/Wide World

For more than 20 years, groups have fought for control of Afghanistan. Most recently, in 1996, the Taliban came to power as Afghanistan’s ruling party. They controlled about 95 percent of the country until U.S. bombing led to the capture of the Capital City of Kabul on November 13.

The Northern Alliance is the Taliban’s main opposition and has been at war with the Taliban for more than five years.

The Northern Alliance is made up of many smaller tribes. The tribes within the Northern Alliance frequently do not agree with each other—and many are downright enemies. They do agree on one thing, though—they do not want the Taliban as Afghanistan’s ruling party.

The Northern Alliance consists mostly of Tajiks, who are descendants of Iran, and Uzbeks, who were originally from Uzbekistan. The Taliban are mostly Pashtuns, who are Pashto-speaking people of southeastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. The majority of Afghans are Pashtuns.

Russia, Iran, India, and the five Central Asian Republics—Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan—support the Northern Alliance. All of these countries give the Northern Alliance military and political support.

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates do not support the Northern Alliance. Until September 11, these three countries supported the Taliban. Since then, though, Pakistan is the only country in the world that maintains a formal relationship with the Taliban—although Pakistan is also a U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism. After September 11, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates joined the world in condemning the Taliban for allowing Osama bin Laden—the prime suspect in September’s terrorist attacks-to stay in Afghanistan.

In the past, the U.S. also did not support the Northern Alliance. In part, this is because many Northern Alliance leaders have a history of violence and human rights violations. However, since the U.S. has gone to war in Afghanistan, the Northern Alliance has become an ally of the United States. Now the U.S. and the Northern Alliance are both fighting the Taliban. The U.S. government hopes that the Northern Alliance will help destroy Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network. The U.S. has even begun dropping ammunition to forces of the Northern Alliance.

Afghanistan’s unrest is not contained to fighting between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance. The two groups do have the most military power in Afghanistan, but many Afghans do not support either as their ruling party.

If the U.S.-led war on Afghanistan is successful, the Taliban will be removed as the country’s leaders. Already, international leaders are discussing who should rule Afghanistan if that happens.

More than 1,000 Afghan leaders and religious figures have met to discuss Afghanistan’s future government. Many of these leaders have fought with each other in the past, but now have a common goal of establishing a new government. The Afghan leaders want the Taliban step down. They also want to announce a council, known as a “loya jirga,” that would select a permanent government.