ALEX PERRY, our New Delhi bureau chief, who reported on the battle of Qala-i-Jangi in late November, returned to Mazar-i-Sharif two weeks ago, only to be called eastward to Kabul to help cover the fighting near Gardez:
"It is actually quite lovely in Mazar. There are signs of the coming spring, and the stalls are stocked with fruit. Mazar appears prosperous, with traffic jams a commonplace because of the many nongovernmental organizations in town. But it's all a veil over a disintegrating situation. Mazar's warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum is engaging in a wave of ethnic cleansing against the area's Pashtun...