Afghanistan has come centre stage in the world crisis following the attacks on New York and Washington, as the assumed location of the chief suspect, Osama bin Laden. The US Defence Department confirmed yesterday that its special forces are operating within Afghan territory, possibly in "hot pursuit" of bin Laden's organisation, according to President Bush.
But Afghanistan is also facing a human catastrophe affecting up to seven million of its 20 million population, who could become refugees or face starvation because of famine, drought and war. How their welfare is handled in coming weeks and months will be a critical test of the global coalition against terrorism being put in place following the atrocities in the US.
Food is what these Afghans urgently need, not some ill-directed mass bombing campaign which will rapidly put them in greater jeopardy. Fortunately, the US-led coalition has rapidly concluded it would be pointless in military as well as humanitarian terms to mount any such campaign as winter approaches. That is the lesson to be drawn from the long history of Afghan invasions and warfare.
Tracking down the suspected perpetrators requires human intelligence, local and regional allies and a readiness to mount a long-term campaign against those responsible. All of that will be made easier if the great wealth and capacity of the developed world being mobilised against terrorism is also deployed against this looming catastrophe of hunger and displacement.
Such a response would legitimise the security measures and strengthen the multilateral agencies within the United Nations system capable of tackling the humanitarian crisis. That this crisis existed prior to September 11th, affecting an estimated 3.8 million people, has become much more widely known after the events of that day. Since then millions more people are likely to be affected, placing a huge burden on Iran and Pakistan, which already accommodate so many Afghan refugees.
This week political leaders such as the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, and the United Nations Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, have highlighted the huge problems facing those who have to respond to this human crisis. So have non-governmental organisations such as Concern and Goal, heroically endeavouring to supply food and shelter in the most difficult conditions. Emergency funding and resources must be organised to back up this effort, alongside the military, diplomatic and intelligence mobilisation in the foreground of inter national attention.
The more targeted and focussed the search for the individual perpetrators and the more the emphasis is placed on a long term campaign against the organisations responsible for the atrocities, the more essential it will be to demonstrate that this cannot be at the cost of millions of innocent Afghan civilians.