I'm not sure the West should be targeting the Taleban Government. By fair means or foul, they have come to be the ruling party of Afghanistan. They have filled the massive void that was created by the country's near destruction in the war with the Soviet Union.
You are absolutely right, it is their people that are suffering - particuarly their women - but that on it's own does not give anyone else the right to intervene.
I don't want there to be a long and protracted war which could easily escalate and further polarise the East and West. The only lasting, stable solution would be moves that came from within the country or it's neighbours. If you look at Iran which went down this path in the last two decades, you can see that it is opposition from within the country that has led to a more moderate government - even if it is one is still at odds with Western ideals.
That said, efforts to persuade the Taleban not to give shelter to terrorists have to be made. My own personal view is that this should be spearheaded by other Muslim countries in the region. The Taleban will not listen to demands coming solely from the West. The West need to persuade countries like Pakistan that the whole of the region would be better off if it joined together and acted against rogue states.
I know they won't listen to anybody but they would not even hear anything the West said. They would just treat the words with contempt.
If the words came from their fellow Muslims, the countries that surround them and that are in a position to make life difficult for them, they will hear. If they keep on hearing the same words over and over from their closest friends, perhaps it will make a difference.
Their are millions of Muslims in the world who are just as shocked and apalled by the Taleban as any of us.
That's about as optimistic as I can be. I can't think of an alternative. The Muslim world needs to do (and be seen to do) this on it's own.
And let's not forget that there are rebels in the north of the country still fighting the Taleban.
The only other thing I can think of to add is that, at the very least, any operation in Afghanistan should target only the "guests" that they harbour and leave the ruling party intact and no civilian casualties (as you point out). If the West is seen to be tampering with the regime (however cruel and oppressive we view it), it would only deepen the problems that the world faces.
I'm sort-of agreeing with you really except I just don't think the West would gain anything by imposing a new government on a Middle Eastern country (that's how it would be seen). However painful, it should be up to the people in the region.
I agree whoever caused this tragedy MUST be caught and punished, but not at the expense of killing INNOCENT citizens in Afghanistan, they are suffering enough - "an eye for an eye makes us all blind".
God Bless everyone.
I posted an article from Tamim Ansary which I beleive is worth reading.
Like the writings from Genoa - it is good to hear from people who are closely involved. I am sorry but it took me ages to type it out the first time so please read the article by going to http://www.rip-off.co.uk/edit click on to leave comment about foot and mouth and go down to the subject SCAPE-GOAT by Wally .
I have sent this to my MP because I found it very moving.
I read this article today and I think it is worth sharing it with you all.
BEYOND RUINS
I've been hearing a lot of talk about "bombing Afghanistan back to the Stone Age." Ronn Owens, on KGO Talk Radio today, allowed that this would mean killing innocent people, people who had nothing to do with this atrocity, but we're at was, we have to accept collateral damage. What else can we do?"
Minutes later I heard some TV pundid discussing whether we "have the belly to do what must be done."
And I thought about the issues being raised specially hard because I am from Afghanistan, and even though I've live here for 35 years I've never lost track of what's going on there. So I want to tell anyone who will listen how it all looks from where I'm standing.
I speak as one who hates the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden, There is now doubt in my mind that these people were responsible for the atrocity in New York. I agree that something must be done about those monsters.
But the Taliban and Bin Laden are not Afghanistan. They're not even the government of Afghanistan. The Taliban are a cult of ignorante psychotics who took over Afghanistan in 1997. Bin Laden is a political criminal with a plan. When you think Taliban, think Nazis. When you think Bin Laden think Hilter. And when you think "the people of Afghanistan" think of the Jews in the concentration camps."
It's not only that the Afghan people had nothing to do with this atrocity. They were the first victims of the perpetrators. They would exult if someone would come in there, take out the Taliban and clear out the rat's nest of international thugs holed up in their country.
Some say, why don't the Afghaqns rise up and overthrow the Taliban? The answer is they're straved, exhausted, hurt, incapacitated, suffering. A few years ago the United Nations estimated that there are 500,000 disable orphans in Afghanistan - a country with no economy and no food. There are milluions of widow alive in mass graves. The soil i s littered with land mines, the farms all destroyed by the Soviets.
We now come to the question of bombing Afghanistan the trouble is that's been done. The Soviets took care of it already.
New bombs would only stir the rubble of earlier bombs. Would they at last get the Taliban? Not likely. In today's Afghanistan only the Taliban eat and only they have the means to move around. They'd slip away and hide. Flying over Kabul and dropping bombs wouldn't really be a strike against the criminal who did this horrifice thing. Actually it would only be making common cause with the Taliban - by raping once again the people they've been raping all the time.
So what else is there? What can be done then? Let me now speak with true fear and trembling. The only way to get Bin Laden is to go in with ground troops. When people speak of "having the belly to dlo what needs to be done" they're thinking in terms of having the belly to kill as many innocent epople. Lets pull our heads out of the sand. What is actually on the table is Americans dyings. And not just some American would be dying trying to find Bin Laden's hideout.
It's much bigger than that. Because to get any troops to Afghanistan we'd need to go through Pakistan. Would they let us? Will other Muslims nations just stand by? You see where I'm going, We're Flirting with a world war between Isalm and the West.
And guess what: that's Bin Laden's program. That's exactly what he wants.
That's why he did this. Read his speeches and statements. It's all right there. He really believes Islam will beat the west. He's probably wrong, in the end the west would win, whatever that would mean, but the war would last for years and millions would die, not just theirs but ours. Who has the belly for that? Bin Laden does . Anyone else?
Tamim Ansary, writer and columnist, San Francisco.
But we don't know what sort of military action is being planned. We assume it will involve massive air strikes but so far, there has been no indication of what will happen.
The correct course of action would seem to be an attempt to destroy the Al-Quaeda organisation which has flourished inside the country and is probably largely responsible for the attacks. Is that possible? Is that the plan? How the hell do I know?
All I know is that it would be wrong for the West to attempt to topple the Taleban by force. That should be the job of others. If the west is seen to be intefering in internal politics in the country, surely it would generate the excuse (and the support) that the fundamentalists need - exactly what they want in fact...as pointed out in the article.
