A greater tragedy for Pakistan might be lying within itself. In seeking glory in Afghanistan, Islamabad may have allowed the creation of a seamless web of connections between the Taliban and the rising extremist Islamic groups within Pakistan.

As Pakistan seeks to cope with the fall-out from Afghanistan, the "Talibanisation" of Pakistan may now be well under way.

The virtual Talibanisation of the community has, however, not elicited much response from the state's major political parties. They seem keen not to offend the Muslim groups.

Today, from Brixton to Cape Town, from Port of Spain to Miami, from Burma to Sydney, there are millions of young men who have grown up under a Christian parliamentary democracy or else some form of Stalinist dictatorship. Both systems have lost the confidence of young men and women such as my Trinidadian friend. They fall easy prey to simplistic interpretation of the Koran. The Americans, the Saudis and the Pakistanis have provided the facilities once offered by the Libyans to transform this mass into active propagandists of Sharia law.

The "Talibanisation", to coin a word, of the dissenting legions of third-world young men is on the agenda.