U.S. hit squads signal new twist to Afghan war

Gen. Ariel Sharon's habit of sending hit squads to kill people he deems enemies has caught on in Washington. It's been revealed that last Monday the CIA tried to assassinate my old acquaintance, the Afghan leader, Gulbadin Hekmatyar.

U.S. forces and CIA agents have targeted senior members of al-Qaida and the Taliban since October.

But Hekmatyar belonged to neither group: he leads the well-established Hisbi-Islami Party, which played the leading role in the 1980s struggle to free Afghanistan from Soviet rule. He had nothing to do with al-Qaida or Sept. 11, and was an enemy of the Taliban.

But in Washington's eyes, Hekmatyar was marked for death because he opposed the U.S.-installed regime in Kabul of Hamid Karzai, and was thus a "terrorist."