15 - 21 November 2001
Issue No.560
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 15 - 21 November 2001 Issue No.560 |
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After the fall
Rapid developments in Afghanistan have many analysts puzzled as to the possible outcome of the US-led war. Anti- Taliban soldiers took the Afghan capital, Kabul, despite US, British and other requests to delay such a step until agreement has been reached on a broad coalition government for the war-torn country. But the anti-Taliban forces, with a human rights record and history in inter-Afghan fighting no better than those of their enemy, could not resist taking the city they were forced to evacuate, without a fight, in 1996, after the Taliban's sudden retreat.The United States, in cooperation with the UN, must accelerate efforts to restore stability and end the 22-year hostilities in Afghanistan. The disturbing scenes of Northern Alliance soldiers kicking and spitting on the corpses of Taliban soldiers and their supporters after taking Kabul are all the more reason to push rapidly for restraint.
The practices of the Taliban in the past five years have left them with little sympathy from the world community. Depriving women of their right to an education, forcing them to stay at home, obliging men to grow beards, banning music and destroying the Bamiyan Buddha statues last year: these are only a few examples of the Taliban's increasing isolation over the years. The Taliban have also turned Afghanistan into a refuge for scores of extremist militant groups representing a serious threat to many world countries, including Egypt -- which suffered the effects of terrorism for over six years.
Military experts, however, warn that Kabul's fall could be just the beginning of a long war against Taliban and Al- Qa'ida forces, which are likely to regroup in the country's intractable mountains.
The only way to avoid further bloodshed is to encourage the principal Afghan actors and the representatives of the country's various tribes to sit down and form their own government as soon as possible. If such a government obtains the support of the majority of Afghans, Taliban fighters and their supporters will be more isolated and easier to confront.
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