'Regrettable But Necessary: The Military Campaign In Afghanistan'
ARTICLE BY THE FOREIGN SECRETARY, JACK STRAW, IN THE OBSERVER NEWSPAPER, SUNDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2001
What a difference a week makes. Last weekend, the main criticism of the military action in Afghanistan was that it
appeared not to be working. This weekend, the criticism is that military action has moved too fast.
The truth is, no one could have predicted the timing of the Taliban collapse. Military conflict is inherently
unpredictable, however meticulous the planning: there are too many variables, especially with the uncertainties both
about the capacity of the Northern Alliance and Taliban morale.
There are still enormous challenges ahead. The military action is not over: the terrorists are still a threat and we
still have to remove that threat. And the humanitarian and political challenges are just as important. Britain is
putting the same effort, energy and commitment into these challenges as we have into the military action.
As a leading European nation, Britain cannot afford to turn its back on the world. Engaging with global problems is both
a moral duty and a practical imperative. But the real test of our commitment is not our words but our deeds. And
sometimes it requires difficult decisions to make a real difference. That is what we are now seeing in Afghanistan.
Last week, British troops were placed in danger trying to get Bagram airfield ready for flights into Afghanistan. Proper
air access will allow humanitarian flights to get in. And it will mean the leaders of all Afghan communities can come in
safety for the debates about the future.
Those who have criticised our response to the atrocities of 11 September are entitled to their democratic right to
dissent. But I ask them whether the world would be a safer place today without the Taliban's power broken, and how else
it would have been broken if not through military action? And I ask them to hear the voices of the people of Kabul, who
for the first time in five years are celebrating simple freedoms this weekend like enjoying music and seeing their
children play.
The humanitarian effort has been a key priority for all of us, all along. The difference today is that, thanks to the
military advances, the life-saving efforts of the World Food Programme and the aid agencies have been made infinitely
easier, as they no longer face the obstruction of the Taliban regime.
For the last five years, the Afghan people have suffered unimaginable cruelty at the hands of a regime which, in the
meantime, turned this once great country into a terrorist haven. Now we have the chance to show the Afghan people, and
the world, there is a better way.
The Northern Alliance was one of many groupings involved in the bloody conflict in Afghanistan at a time, following
Soviet withdrawal, when the world had turned its back on that benighted country. The difference today is that the
international community is united and actively engaged. The Alliance knows the world is watching closely. We expect it
to act with restraint and wisdom at this sensitive time.
That Kabul fell with relatively little bloodshed is encouraging. But it cannot be allowed to become the headquarters of
another narrow faction. It must become the capital of an inclusive, multi-ethnic Afghan state, generating wealth and
welfare for all of its people and enjoying international respect.
Among the many conversations I had with colleagues in New York last week, one in particular struck me. The Foreign
Minister of Uzbekistan, who has long experience of neighbouring Afghanistan, remarked that no Afghani under the age of
25 knows anything but bloodshed, strife, oppression and injustice. He said the spiritual regeneration of Afghanistan
should be one of the key priorities for its reconstruction, and agreed that the reopening of Kabul University would be
an excellent start down this road.
The world has let Afghanistan down in the past. Malign interference from outside has helped to turn the country into a
vast killing field for decades. Britain, with its record of meddling in Afghan affairs in the nineteenth century, should
understand this better than most.
As I said in my speech to the UN General Assembly plenary last Sunday, there must be no more Great Games with the Afghan
people as the pawns. Instead, this time the world is united in its resolve to help the Afghan people. Indeed, this unity
of purpose goes wider than Afghanistan. Conflict, poverty, discrimination and injustice still blight the lives of
millions in every part of the globe.
Where we allow societies to disintegrate or states to fail, we put at risk the basis of global society itself. Achieving
an alternative vision, of peaceful co-operation among stable nations, has taken on a new urgency. We are further forward
towards this only as a result of the military action. That may be an uncomfortable truth for some: but there was no
other way.