There was a cool if utterly cruel political logic behind the massive rocket attacks launched on the Afghan capital of Kabul last week. The city has been left completely isolated, its transport and communications links cut; there is no power or water. Foreign embassies and U.N. personnel are seeking evacuation, while perhaps 100,000 more citizens have fled.
Behind the mayhem is rebel mujahedin leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who apparently decided he could not afford to allow President Burhanuddin Rabbani's interim government to gain much stability. On Aug. 2, Pakistan's Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif was due to arrive in Kabul, and Hekmatyar's...