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UNITED NATIONS — With Afghanistan's provincial towns and the capital Kabul falling like dominos before the military onslaught of the Northern Alliance, it's now up to the diplomats and politicians to patch together an broad based ethnic coalition government which reflects the Afghan tribal quilt of this rugged mountainous land.
Though the Taliban "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," will soon be another sad memory in Afghanistan's long list of rulers, the central issue for the United States remains keeping the military momentum against terrorist bases and states, in parallel with economic rehabilitation of war torn Afghanistan.
Addressing the UN General Assembly before the dramatic fall of Kabul, President George W. Bush asserted that "the time for sympathy has passed, the time for action has arrived." Adding that "Some government still turn a blind eye to the terrorists, hoping the threat will pass them by, they are mistaken." President Bush warned "For every regime that sponsors terror there is a price to be paid, and it will be paid. The allies of terror are equally guilty of murder and equally accountable."
In the fact the UN General Assembly debate has been dominated by the carnage of September 11th and how to respond to it. Ironically a just year ago, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, addressing the same Assembly, did not even mention the word terrorism, in her speech! Alas, the "pejorative" term rogue regimes, for most deserving places such as Libya, Islamic Iran, North Korea etc., was being morphed into "countries of concern."
Now the political pendulum has swung back. There's no shortage of rhetorical revulsion to September 11. Most countries have been broadly supportive of the American effort.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer stated, "11 September thrust a dangerous future upon the world. We now live in the terrible knowledge that no country in the globalized world is invulnerable, and that enemies within, who are determined to kill and to die, can perpetrate mass murder at any time."
Interestingly Fischer who's from the pacifist Green Party, a wavering coalition partner in Germany's Socialist government stated bluntly, "As hard as this decision may be, without the use of military means this threat cannot be averted....not to react would indeed be to invite further terror and oppression and would be extremely dangerous for world peace."
Other states have been more equivocal with the People's Republic of China offering perfunctory support to Washington but stopping short of endorsing the military response against Taliban. Communist China has played a decidelty double game in Afghanistan while using the crisis to justify crackdowns on domestic dissidents.
Let's not forget that the PRC has been a traditional weapons supplier to Pakistan for missile technology and the godfather of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program.
Nonetheless China's Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan tried to make common cause with the US, stating "China is also threatened by terrorism," namely from Moslems living in the western Sinkiang province. Tang stated, " the Eastern Turkestan foces are trained, equipped and financed by international terrorist organizations. The fight against "East Turkestan group is an important aspect of the international fight against terrorism."
London's Financial Times stated, "By backing the US now, China is seeking to win western support for its continuing fight against its own Islamic insurgency in western Sinkiang, just as the Russians have secured in Chechnaya."
Communist China has traditionally persecuted Muslims and Chirstian groups, Beijing is trying to demonise any Islamic dissidents as terrorists.
Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, speaking in Beijing expressed deep concern that Chinese Muslim minority had been increasingly subjected to detention and abuse by the People's police since China joined the coalition against terrorism.
Importantly Afghanistan's UN Ambassador Ravan Farhadi, part of the Northern Alliance allied with the US stated "My government and the people of Afghanistan denounced the terrorist attacks against the US and continue to denounce terrorism in all its forms — we ourselves have been captives and hostages of terrorism longer than most." After the liberation of Kabul from the Taliban, the Afghan delegate stated proudly, "Today the people of Afghanistan have been vindicated in their righteous struggle against terrorism and extremism."
So as the Afghan dominos continue to fall, and the Taliban flee like rats from the sinking ship, its now the turn of the diplomats to go beyond their rhetoric and support both the ongoing war on terror and help the long suffering Afghans rebuild a land ravished by too many wars.
John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.
