Author: Robert McFarlane
Publication: The Washington Post
Date: September 13, 2001
In the days ahead, as grief and
rage evolve toward revenge and preventing a recurrence, we will all be
tested. We -- all of us, not just the government -- have known for years
that this could happen someday. Worse, we even knew who would do it --
Osama bin Laden or one of two or three other cells with the means to conceive
and carry out such an attack. In the coming days and months as our policy
postmortem unfolds, we will be forced to acknowledge a cruel irony -- our
democracy invites this kind of thing. Our principled defense of individual
freedom and our reluctance to intervene in the affairs of states harboring
terrorists makes us an easy target.
Our anguish will be worsened when
we learn that -- to its great credit -- the FBI has prevented literally
hundreds of similar attempts to explode a bomb or hijack an airliner. But
as yesterday's attack makes clear, it is impossible to catch them all.
Our borders cannot be closed to a determined terrorist; if we want to deal
with terrorism, we must go to the source. And therein lies our dilemma.
Civilized democracies -- with the exception of Israel -- are reluctant
to carry their own self-defense to the point of holding other sovereign
states accountable for harboring terrorists. What more egregious example
could there be than Afghanistan's providing safe haven for Osama bin Laden?
For years we have known of bin Laden's
headquarters for training and launching terrorists from Afghanistan. And
for years we have known that the only ways to prevent attacks like Tuesday's
were either to persuade the Afghan or Pakistani governments to capture
him or to capture him ourselves. During the past five years it has become
clear that the extremist Taliban would do nothing to inhibit bin Laden's
activities. And it is also clear that bin Laden will not be deterred by
the remote use of force -- cruise missiles and the like. Unlike Moammar
Gaddafi, bin Laden is not a bully who may be cowed by overwhelming force
but rather a zealot, a fanatic devoted with maniacal zeal to doing all
that he can to rid his region of Western influence. He has no fear of violence
against himself.
In the days ahead, as we analyze
how to go after bin Laden and other terrorist cells, certain considerations
stand out. First, in addition to the Taliban, the government of Pakistan
must be held accountable for what has happened. For almost two years Gen.
Pervez Musharraf has maintained the pretense that Pakistan has no influence
on the Taliban -- an outrageous position on its face. Even setting aside
for a moment the huge military support provided over the years to the Taliban
by Pakistan's Inter-Service-Intelligence agency, bear in mind that Afghanistan
is land-locked. Pakistan is the principal airhead and land route through
which people and commodities come and go into Afghanistan. Pakistan is
vital to the survival of the Taliban and to its continued provision of
safe haven to bin Laden. It is time for Pakistan to lead, follow or get
out of the way.
Within Afghanistan also exists a
basis for hope that the Taliban -- and ultimately bin Laden -- can be ousted.
It lies in the widespread disaffection -- even contempt -- for the Taliban
that exists at the grass roots throughout Afghanistan, including among
commanders who comprise as much as one-third of the Taliban's own forces.
Recall that five years ago, the appeal of the Taliban among Afghans was
its commitment to take back the country from the warlords who had co-opted
the hard-won victory of the Mujaheddin against the Soviet Union, only to
install their own authoritarian model. Indeed the Taliban formed most of
its original effective fighting strength on the backs of former Mujaheddin
commanders who rallied to them believing that they could thereby reclaim
their original victory. Now, five years later, these commanders are fed
up with the outrageous policies and practices of the Taliban and ready
-- subject to receiving encouragement from us -- to unravel the Taliban,
to call for a national assembly, to form a provisional government and over
time to take back their country from unwanted foreign influence, including,
most importantly, that of bin Laden. It is true, however, that they cannot
do it alone. They need us to lean hard on Pakistan to cease and desist
in its support for the Taliban, and indeed to support these fighters. Ultimately
it may also require American military support. And we should be ready to
provide it in overwhelming degree.
If ever our government was hesitant
to acknowledge that we have important interests wrapped up in far-off Afghanistan,
certainly Tuesday's events must dispel them. We have more than ample reason
to take on terrorism in Afghanistan. A systemic approach is needed. The
means of such an approach are at hand. We must get started.
(The writer was national security
adviser to President Reagan.)
