BONN: Its hard to accept that you don’t exist That’s what I found outabout myself yesterday when Luftansa told me that I was nowhere to be foundin their computer system, and hence, no ticket to fly to the Media AgendaConference in Germany. Ten calls later, and with the help of one of thosealphabet soup authorization codes, my misspelled last name was located, andI was on my way. The only thing new at the airport were soldiers walkingaround in camouflage outfits with M1 rifles, slung acrioss their backs.Security was tighter, and I triggered the alarm because all of the changejangling around in pockets I forgot I had.

The Frankfurt airport was all chrome and quiet in the early hours of themorning. There were pictures on the wall of terrorists wanted in the U.S. Ilearned that my old friend, the one-time London-based anti-Vietnam Warorganiyer Tariq Ali, a Pakistani who I have quoted in these columns, hadbeen arrested earlier this week for walking around with a book by Marx. Thatarroused suspicions and he was briefly detained until he called his friend,the mayor of Munich, and he was on his way.

On the flight over, I caught up with some newspaper storied I had missed.Most notably, there was a front page International Herald Tribune reprint ofa Washington Post story on twenty secret talks over three years between theTaliban and U.S. reprentatives. The last took place just days beforeSeptember 11th. One was held in Washington and involved a Taliban emmissarybringing a rug as a gift for President Bush. I didn’t find out what happenedto it.

What I did learn, was that the American representatives now feel thatthey / “we” blew it by not being willing to find an “aabroh,” which isPashto for a face-saving formula to induce the Afghan regime to hand overBin-Laden. The U.S. kept demanding his arrest and the Taliban kept insistingon evidence first. The outcome was a stalemate. “We never heard what theywere trying to say,” said Milt Bearden who ran the CIA’s secret operationsthat supported the Mujadeen with their war against Russians in Afghanistanin the ’80’s. “We had no common language. Ours was ‘give up Bin-Laden’. Theywere saying, do something to help us give him up.”

It is failures of communication like this that so often lead to wars, andin this case, the press is not encouraging about the prospects of a quick oreasy victory. On the military front, today’s International Tribune reportsthat some uniformed personnel are now on the ground with the NorthernAlliance, while air-drops of ammunition to them begin. But it may be toolittle, too late. The Times reports that there may not be time for asuccessful offensive before winter sets in. Headline: “REBELS SHORT OFSUPPLIES: US HELP MAY BE TOO LATE FOR OFFENSIVE:”

The Tribune notes a shift in Administration policy with this escalationto help an alliance that the Pakistanis hate and which has no support fromthe largest ethnic group in the country. It looks like a disaster in themaking and slowly, the media is echoing the questions and concerns raised bycritics. “Around the world, criticism has grown,” reports USA Today. TheFinancial Times reports from India’s disquiet on what is being headlined “America’s Afghan Gamble.” It also carries a story about US ally KindAbdullah of Jordan who argues that an attack on Iraq will backfire.

Sorry for column interruptis, but I am out of time here in Bonn. Unableto connect directly, I am laboring witha German language keyboard which isnot cooperating fully. I had more from the press on this part of the pondbut it will have to wait until I figure out the technology disconnect. More,I hope, tomorrow. Until, then, happy Halloween. Trick or Treat is no longerthe question.