The Afghans invariably had a twinkle in their eye when they referred to ‘Ustad.' Burhanuddin Rabbani was incomparable in the pantheon of colourful Afghan heroes. He evoked respect as an Islamic scholar, while his jihadi pedigree was impeccable; he was admired for the ease with which he criss-crossed Afghanistan's political and ethnic divides and yet he was by far the tallest of the Tajik leaders; he was endearing for his nameless vanities and yet was dangerously susceptible to pomp and flattery; he was feared for his political skills but he was also fickle-minded to the point of being unreliable; and, of course, he was adorable as a staunch nationalist. Rabbani probably had the foreboding that a shroud of strategic ambiguity was surrounding him. The intriguing part is where he stood vis-à-vis the U.S, finally. His ‘anti-Americanism' was apparently mellowing. What, then, was the purpose of his mission to Tehran, which was his last port of call? Was he crossing a ‘redline'? -- M. K. Bhadrakumar
http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamRadicalIslamismAndJihad_1.aspx?ArticleID=5577
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