LONDON: Too often in the past, the people of Afghanistan have been dealt a raw deal by the international community. Treated as a plaything of the great powers in the 19th century, the intervention of the former Soviet Union and the west during the cold war has left them knowing little but war, poverty and chaos.
For the first time, there is now an international coalition committed to rebuilding Afghanistan, feeding its people, and providing them with a more stable future. There is a collective desire to bring Afghanistan back into the family of nations. Yet this can only come as part of a long- term strategy, and one which includes the present military campaign.
No one wanted to take military action. It always has to be the policy of last resort, proportionate and targeted. But there can be no peace for the Afghan people — just as there will be a continued threat to the rest of the international community — until the terrorist network which has taken root in Afghanistan is defeated.
We tried hard to deal with the Taliban-Al Qaida nexus through non-military means. Sanctions have been in place since 1999, after Osama carried out bombings against US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. An ultimatum was issued to the Taliban regime to hand over Osama and his Al Qaida network following September 11. But Osama and his network remain protected by a regime sustained by brutality and violence.
We therefore had, and have, a clear choice — merely to repeat our condemnations or to take the sort of military action which has been taken over the last 20 days as part of our wider political and humanitarian strategy. I know of no other practical and coherent choice.
Bizarrely, some critics have opposed military action on the grounds that Osama should be put on trial. I agree that Osama should face justice. But if we will that end, then we have an obligation to will the means too — and it is fanciful to believe that he would volunteer himself or be handed over by the Taliban.
So our commitment to help the Afghan people rebuild their country is no empty promise. It can be done, because it has been done in Bosnia, Cambodia, Sierra Leone, East Timor and Mozambique — in each country the international community has helped bring order out of chaos and hope out of despair. Terrorists are strongest where states are weakest. When states collapse, warlords, criminals, drugs barons or terrorists fill the power vacuum.
In a globalized world, that has the potential to bring chaos to our doorsteps, whether human trafficking to our ports, drugs to our streets or acts of terror.
We will not turn our backs on the people of Afghanistan again. With the United Nations, and our partners in the coalition against terrorism, we are determined to place the future back in the hands of the people of Afghanistan themselves. —Dawn/The Guardian News Service.
