Shafqat Mahmood

The writer is a former Senator and a

former federal and provincial minister

smahmood@lhr.comsats.net.pk

The unrelenting American bombing in Afghanistan seems to be producing little more than horrific pictures of civilian causalities. The military results may be different but the image that haunts is the blood splattered face of a young child staring with dazed eyes into a camera or the terrifying wails of a woman who has lost her entire family.

If this is the reality of war on terror then the Americans are already beginning to loose. Responding to terror with terror cannot be a wise game plan in a war that is being fought not only on the ground but in the hearts and minds of people the world over. The intensity of those gruesome images from New York on the 11th of September begins to fade when overlaid with dead or dying Afghan women and children.

Surely, the good people of the United States are not thirsting for the blood of the innocents. They want the terrorist to be brought to justice or, as President Bush is so fond of saying, justice brought to the terrorists. They do not want the poor Afghan civilians to become the victims of their wrath.

The military people will explain it away by saying that there is always collateral damage in a war. These terrible words seek to hide innumerable sins of a conventional conflict but this is not any other kind of conflict. It is a battle for the soul of what passes for global civilisation in the twenty first century.

Either the world will come to understand and agree on a common definition of terror or one man's terrorist will continue to be another man's freedom fighter. It is this barrier that will have to be crossed if the war on terror has to ultimately succeed. A common global consciousness on issues of terrorism and freedom has to be the decisive aim of this conflict.

If we all remain mired in our partisan definitions of what constitutes terror and what constitutes a genuine struggle for freedom, dignity, and national honour then the world will loose even if the Americans win in Afghanistan. What we have to seek in this new century and this new millennium is at least the beginnings of a global morality. Otherwise, with the weapons of mass destruction readily at hand, and new dangerous biological weapons so easily available, the world is doomed to self-destruct.

Images of civilian victims in Afghanistan and thousands of people displaced from their homes massing at the Pakistani border to get in, takes us further away from the goal of a common morality. There was something uniquely solidifying about the terror attacks in New York and Washington. It brought all the civilised people in the world, whatever their creed or ethnic origin, together. The revulsion, the horror, even the anger was commonly shared across the globe. This solidarity is being torn apart by what seems to be indiscriminate American bombing in Afghanistan.

This is specially hard for us in Pakistan. The government took the right decision in deciding to support the Americans against terror networks in Afghanistan. It was correct because it was morally right and because it protected our national interest. A vast majority of the people in the country supported General Musharraf's decision. Now, this bombing campaign is putting both the government and the people in difficulty.

The government has to contend with street demonstrations, which seem to be picking up steam as the bombing proceeds. The people who supported the government's decision have a moral dilemma to face. How can they continue to support a military action that is causing such horrific consequences? How can they square their hate for terrorists and their revulsion for the Taliban with the anguish they feel seeing images of bleeding Afghan children?

The centre of gravity is beginning to shift in Pakistan. It was always expected that the bombing, when it starts, would have a negative impact. But, many felt that this would be confined to the small minority of hard line Islamic parties. The images from Afghanistan are starting to change this. Even the so-called moderates and liberals, who have no love for the Taliban or Osama bin Laden, are now beginning to waiver. The moral anchor of their support for the American action in Afghanistan is no longer firm.

This presents additional challenges for the government. Hard pressed as it is to counter the extremists, the core of its support base among the moderates and the liberals is now starting to soften. If the American action in Afghanistan goes on for month after month without any closure, the difficulties for the Musharraf government would add up to a breaking point.

Things are not being made easy for the government by strange stories appearing in the American press. A New Yorker story says that American troops with Israeli help are getting ready to storm Pakistan's nuclear facilities. No firm denial of this has as yet appeared from the American establishment. We use to hear such talk from our hard liners who always warned about the real American intentions. Now a respected American publication is endorsing this point of view.

Such stories disturb the fault lines in our society. The extremists have always imagined the worst from the Americans and have been shouting this from the housetops. The moderates and the liberals, who constitute the majority of the people in this country, never believed such doomsday scenarios. Now they are also less sure. What appeared to them far-fetched and grotesque may

well be real. This impression combined with the indiscriminate bombing in Afghanistan may bring about an amazing configuration. The moderates and the extremists in Pakistan may find themselves on the same platform.

The Americans need to take a note of this. If a so-called front line state is going through these tribulations it should be a cause of worry for them. They need to be more careful in choosing targets in Afghanistan. They also need to allay any fear that Pakistanis may have of a potential American attack. You cannot be a friend and a foe at the same time. This distinction needs to be sorted out as soon as possible.

The government also needs to take this issue up through the diplomatic channels. A strong American denial of any potential attack on Pakistan is a must and needs to come from the highest level. This would help the government in stabilising its core constituency of support. If everyone starts to question American intentions then the government would have a hard time containing anti American demonstrations.

Today the news is that Americans have started carpet-bombing Taliban positions. If such bombs hit civilian areas, there would be mayhem. How many more Afghans will have to die before Osama and the Taliban are brought to book? Americans say they have their own timetable and will not be rushed by anyone. There is a problem with this. The longer they hesitate to finish the job, the more they will loose the sympathy of the world. The battle will be won but the war lost.