Saving Afghanistan From Destruction

What needs to happen in Afghanistan becomes more and more apparent. With the country already in ruins from decades of fighting, retaliatory bombing would be the devil’s delight. An approaching winter of starvation is fast upon them. An estimated 5.5 million persons are dependent on outside foodstuffs after three years of drought.

International relief is essential. The collapse of the Taliban because of its own wrongheadedness and world rejection should be facilitated. Al Qaeda will be exposed and vulnerable without a host regime and financial backers. Then what, for Afghanistan?

Using the U.N. Cambodian undertaking as precedent, Afghanistan should be placed in U.N. receivership and thousands of international personnel should be sent there to finally put the country together as a coherent social system. U.S. backing of a few Afghan ethnic groups against the rest would only end in frustration. While there, U.N. technicians could clear the millions of uncharted land mines now being discovered, often by children, one human limb at a time.

Our most worthy monument to the victims of the New York and Washington tragedies would be to provide leadership for international cooperation for life-preserving initiatives.

Donald W. Bray

Professor, Political Science

Cal State L.A.

*

The destitute Afghan people are facing a cold winter--after years of drought and famine. What would happen if we were to invade their country, not with soldiers, but with truckload after truckload of food, medicine, fuel and relief supplies?

George Armerding

Irvine

*

The past two weeks have been a time unlike any other for all of us. After the shock and so many hours of intense emotion and pondering what we can or should do, I wonder whether many of my neighbors have reached the same conclusion that I have: A military response will bring no change to the conditions that spawned this outrage and, in fact, might ensure that it continues.

What all these people need, including Afghanistan, the Palestinians and much of Africa, is self-dignity and respect, which comes from gainful work and self-support. If what we are about to expend in military action was instead directed to massive development of business incubators and facilities for on-the-job training in useful and commercially viable skills, is it possible that we could minimize, or possibly avoid, another entire generation of these people having only one motive in their lives--to hate?

T.J. Orr

Mission Viejo

Your Sept. 19 front-page article about the Soviet experience in Afghanistan raises a question: We were too pigheaded to learn from the French experience in Vietnam; will we be too pigheaded to learn from the Soviet experience in Afghanistan?

Shelley Martin

San Pedro

*

On Sept. 11, 2001, a crime was committed--not an act of war. Timothy McVeigh was punished for the Oklahoma bombing; he was a criminal of the most heinous kind.

President Bush and his advisors appear to be hurling us into a declaration of war to control ideologies. Our NATO allies concur that murder is a criminal act warranting punishment. Today we know of 19 criminals (hijackers) who are dead and several others on the run or in hiding here and abroad. Criminals are neither nations nor religions; they are thugs, hoodlums or sociopathic individuals.

Many countries in the Middle East are financially, academically and spiritually bankrupt. What purpose will it serve to further malign these countries--especially Afghanistan? Intelligence operations, to include our allies, seem more humane and sane. If it is proven that Osama bin Laden is the culprit, bring him and his accomplices to justice, but not at the expense of innocent people everywhere.

Jana M. Darnell

Costa Mesa