For the last three weeks Pakistan¹s military rulers have been trying to convince the Taliban to hand over Ossama Bin Laden and avoid the castastrophe which was being prepared. They failed. Since Ossama is the son-in-law of Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban, this was hardly surprising. The more interesting question is whether Pakistan, after withdrawing its own soldiers, officers and pilots from Afghanistan managed to split the Taliban and withdraw those sections of the Taliban totally dependent on its patronage. This would have been a key aim of the military regime to maintain its influence in a future coalition government in Kabul.