Terrorists want peace during their Ramadan

Some Islamic countries have been asking the United States to have a moratorium on the war against Taliban terrorists in Afghanistan. The Ramadan is the ninth month in the Muslim year. It started with the sighting of the new moon last Thursday and Muslims commemorate the event by fasting from dawn to sunset for the whole month. The truth is that Muslims themselves do not observe a moratorium on war during the Ramadan. In fact, soldiers on the march are exempted from fasting. So the war – not against Afghanistan, but against the Taliban regime continues.

We have always believed in the freedom of worship. We only draw the line when an individual or a group try to impose their religious beliefs and practices on other individuals or groups. The thing to remember is that the Islamic religion condemns terrorism. The best proof is that no one has owned and officially approved the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York. The United States made it clear that it would not make a distinction between terrorists and groups that give them harbor. So now the Talibans are paying the price for sheltering Osama bin Laden and supporting his terroristic activities.

War is the science of destruction and its essence is violence. Plobius gave the most idealistic definition of war when he said, "It is not the object of war to annihilate those who have given provocation for it, but to cause them to mend their ways; not to ruin the innocent and guilty alike, but to save both."

No matter how war is conducted, innocent civilians will be killed. And so the bombings in Afghanistan sometimes have civilian casualties. But they were not the target of the bombers. And American troops are even dropping food for Afghan refugees. The same cannot be said of the terrorists who initiated the destruction of the World Trade Center by hijacking two commercial airplanes and crashing them into the twin towers.

The war in Afghanistan will not end in the defeat of the Talibans. It will cease when Osama bin Laden is captured. Bin Laden has said that the Americans will get him but not alive. Since the Americans want him dead or alive, how they get him is just a detail. We would prefer to see him captured and given a fair trial as a world criminal.

Nations have waged war on other nations. Sometimes they didn’t even bother to declare war. Classic example was Pearl Harbor. But the World Trade Center tragedy was the first undeclared war by an individual. One can only imagine the nightmare everyone will have to cope with if terrorists have their way.

The United States is coping with world terrorism in Afghanistan. Here we have the Abu Sayyaf. Bin Laden has been associated with both.