CIAO DATE: 9/01

From CIAO's Board: Commentary on the Terrorist Attacks against the United States

After Bob's response, I looked at the what the UN has done with respect to this issue and with respect to Afghanistan more generally. Security Council Resolution 1368 of September 12 condemns the attack, calls for the perpetrators to be brought to justice and for a redoubling of anti-terrorism efforts; I gather that further discussions are currently underway around more specific actions and a new resolution.

But the Security Council has also redoubled its calls for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1333 which is a far more interesting document and concerns the Taliban government. Adopted on 19 December 2000, 1333 tightened sanctions imposed by the Council against the Taliban after bin Laden was indicted in the United States for the bombings of US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam, including specifically a freezing of bin-Laden's assets. The resolution demands the handover of bin Laden "to appropriate authorities in a country where he has been indicted or to appropriate authorities in a country where he will be returned to such a country, or to appropriate authorities in a country where he will be arrested and effectively brought to justice." The phrasing of the last clause suggests a political compromise of some sort and may now be insufficient for the United States. The Council resolution also demanded that the Taliban act swiftly to close all terrorist training camps in territory under the group's control.

I don't know how the Chinese voted on this, but it is an interesting statement nonetheless and from a swift reading already appears to contain much if not all that the United States would like to see done. I gather that the debate about the sanctions in Afghanistan is pretty much the same as the sanctions debate always is: to what extent have they "worked," what does "working" mean, and have they in fact radicalized the regime and increased the humanitarian tragedy of the country.

Commentary

Stephen M. Walt
Kirkpatrick Professor of International Affairs
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Bruce Jentleson
Professor of Public Policy, Duke University
Director, Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy

Response by Etel Solingen
Professor of Political Science
University of California, Irvine

Response by Stephan Haggard
Professor, Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies
University of California, San Diego