The ‘first war of the twenty first century,’ predicted to happen following the worst terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, is finally under way. On Sunday night, the US and Britain engaged in a joint aerial and ship borne strikes on military sites and airstrips in Afghanistan. The US appears to be ready to continue the intensity of these strikes until it has Osama bin Laden either dead or alive, destroys his terrorist organization, and is sure no regime remains that supports bin Laden or other terrorists.

It is a tragedy for humanity that in response to terrorism against civilization and humanity there must be war, another form of violence. One of course has to recognize that there is little other that can be done towards terrorist groups that have no interest in dialogue and compromise, and show nothing but hatred for the civilized world.

Though in a way unlike terrorism, war is, nevertheless, a means that is anti-life, no matter how justified the motive and goal may be. Therefore operation ‘Enduring Freedom’ should be limited and concluded as swift as possible as it seeks to achieve the initial goal of striking against terrorism. Minimizing the loss of innocent human life should be given as much importance as the dealing if a direct blow to this terrorist group.

This would also be the best way to keep the US’s counter-terrorism campaign, which it is promoting as a new New World Order, alive. If the war drags on and the innocents increase in number, the anti-terrorism alliance could be weakened, and in the worst of scenarios, it could turn into a ‘clash of civilizations’ between the Islamic world and the West. A situation where retaliations against terrorism ignite terrorist retaliations in a vicious cycle that divides humanity has to be avoided.

It is hard to tell what exactly the US expects to achieve through this war. Being a war where for all practical purposes the fighting is a confrontation with an ‘invisible enemy,’ it is utterly unlike previous wars. The battlefield that is Afghanistan is a place where the so-called ‘Powell doctrine,’ which seeks to first achieve overwhelming military superiority and then achieve the operation’s goals swiftly and decisively may prive untenable. Preoccupation with military achievements could turn the situation into another Vietnam, just like the Soviet experience. The US needs to keep in mind how Arab states that had been sympathetic to the US-led global anti-terrorist front are critical of this war, and be careful not to allow the situation to become one in which retaliation targeted at terrorists alienates the Arab world.

(October 9, 2001)