University experts have responded to the recent air strikes on Afghanistan by offering opinions on the implications of the war on terrorism and the resulting challenges facing the international community.
Ruhi K. Ramazani, professor emeritus of government and foreign affairs, said he believes Afghanistan's Taliban regime eventually will be removed from power and that an important question is who will rule Afghanistan after the ensuing power vacuum.
He mentioned the Northern Alliance, a group of several minority ethnic groups in Afghanistan united under a common goal of ousting the Taliban, as a possible replacement, although the possibility that infighting may occur among the factions within the group once their goal is accomplished is a concern. There also is discussion of bringing back former King Mohammad Zahir Shah, whose reign ended in 1973, as a symbol of unification for the various Afghani factions.
John Echeverri-Gent, an associate professor of government and foreign affairs, suggested America install a broad-based government in Afghanistan that is not affiliated with the Northern Alliance because of their record of human rights violations.
Osama bin Laden has called America's reaction to the Sept. 11 attacks a war on Islam and urged Muslims worldwide to join him against the United States. Echeverri-Gent emphasized it is important "to avoid playing into bin Laden's hands by taking military action and converting this conflict into a clash of civilizations between Islam and the Western world." For this reason, President Bush has stressed the United States and its allies are fighting a war on terrorism, not on Islam.
One of the best ways to handle the situation, Ramazani believes, is to engage in dialogue - not with the terrorists but with the people of Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern countries - with education at its heart. The need for this dialogue arises from the fact that certain governments supporting American efforts do not necessarily reflect the opinions of their citizens.
The problems in Afghanistan, as well as the entire Middle East, are deeply rooted, and it is in the best interest of Americans to educate themselves on the real reasons behind such overt expressions of hatred, Ramazani said.
He added that Americans are sending aid to Afghanistan in an effort to appear humanitarian. The United States says that it is not fighting a war against Islam, but Muslims consider such things to be part of American propaganda that seems contradictory in light of the recent bombings, Ramazani said.
Lawrence E. Adams, research director of the Critical Incident Analysis Group, said the immediate emphasis is being placed on finding bin Laden, and despite discussion to widen the scope of the military campaign, he does not expect it to happen anytime soon.
It is important, however, that the United States not focus so exclusively on bin Laden that it neglects the social conditions that give rise to international terrorism because "no matter how many Osama bin Ladens we capture, there will always be new ones rising to take their place" Echeverri-Gent said.
Americans also must not be blinded by our immediate military goals that we forget about our allies in the Muslim world whose cooperation is necessary to successfully uproot international terrorism, he added.
Although future events of the conflict are hard to predict, experts mostly agree the struggle to eradicate international terrorism will be a prolonged one. Adams believes, however, the various stages of the campaign seem well planned out.
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