Whether Washington likes it or not, its raids on Mujahideen camps in Afghanistan have changed its options in this turbulent region drastically. For five years, the State Department has been developing a largely covert policy of supporting Pakistan to support the Taliban in its bid to capture the whole of Afghanistan. This, they believe, will open the way to Central Asia for US commerce and industry. The attacks virtually doomed this initiative at the very point of success. US policymakers have been backpedalling furiously, sending out signals that they will make no more attacks if Bin Laden is thrown out of Afghanistan or brought to heel by the new rulers in Kabul. But the Taliban are, after all, Afghans. They have not forgotten and will never forget, that Bin Laden came to their country to fight their war and was their guest when the US attacked him. No matter how much Pakistan entreats them to keep Bin Laden under control, they will neither expel him nor put serious curbs on him. On the contrary, the more fervently Pakistan advocates the US' cause, the more rapidly will its influence with the Taliban diminish.