December 3, 2001	Monday	Ramazan 17, 1422

LONDON: In the aftermath of Sept 11 most newspaper endorsed military action to dismantle the Al Qaeda network and the Taliban. However some newspapers’ note of caution was that if this was to be a just war against an enemy that threatened us all then it should be carefully and justly prosecuted. We congratulated President Bush for building international consensus for military action and for staying his hand while he considered the best course of action. It was a sign, they noted with surprise, of a stomach for prudence and multilateralism.

That was then. Three weeks of rapid military successes on the ground in Afghanistan have transformed the international landscape as surely as the Sept 11 attacks. Bush’s appetite for both prudence and international involvement appears to have abated, replaced by the hawkish unilateralism of an expectant victor. America has made it clear that while it is still hunting Al Qaeda’s foreign fighters its allies are only welcome in Afghanistan if they are there to lend a hand in the killing and not to get in the way by delivering humanitarian aid. Other senior officials have made it clear that they would not be disappointed if all of the Taliban’s foreign fighters were wiped out.

In this context the killings of Taliban prisoners - many with their hands bound - in a fort near Mazar-i Sharif in an operation directed by American and British Special Forces raises urgent and legitimate concerns. It is not good enough for the US and their friends in Tony Blair and Jack Straw to reject calls for an inquiry out of hand. It may be that the manacled prisoners were caught in crossfire. But until the circumstances are investigated we cannot know. And, until they are, the suspicion will remain that the US is pursuing a policy of capital punishment without trial. —Dawn/The Observer News Service.