IRAQ: The same fate as Afghanistan?

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Att.Editors: The following item is by the United Arab Emirates news agency (WAM)

ABU DHABI, Mar 1 2003 (IPS) - A local English daily has expressed fear that the fate of Iraq, after disposing of Saddam Hussein, may not differ so much from that of post-Taliban Afghanistan.

In its editorial today, the ‘Gulf News’ of Dubai said that "with the attention of the Bush administration focused on Iraq, it is natural to believe that the present battle being fought in Afghanistan is overlooked.."

If not overlooked, the paper adds, then certainly downgraded in priority, as though the original "war on terrorism" which inspired the world to join the Bush campaign has now changed direction.

"The war on terrorism is no longer such. If anything, it has become a war against Iraq, with global terrorism taking a back seat in the drive to oust Saddam Hussein from power."

In so doing, the ‘Gulf News’ believes, Bush has created much animosity around the world. The "battle of Afghanistan" is far from over, it noted. – Kabul may be safe in the hands of Afghan President Hamid Karzai with the support of US troops, but it is none too safe for Karzai and his supporters to venture further afield. For it is there that warlords still battle for supremacy, as they try to wrest power from each other. It is a dangerous situation, reminiscent of the tribal wars that have taken place over the past decades, if not centuries."

The paper went on to say that despite promises of financial aid to Afghanistan by the international community meager assistance had found its way to that country.

ôThe situation in Afghanistan has little changed, despite claims of success from the Bush administration on what they have achieved thus far. In rebuilding a completely devastated area, it may be that the United States took on more than it envisaged," the paper wrote.

ôIt is the success in Afghanistan that so worries many people when the Bush administration talks of ousting Saddam Hussein. The job in Afghanistan is nowhere near complete and adequate funds are no longer being diverted to that cause. People fear that once Saddam has been deposed by US bombs, the same indifference will arise when it comes to rebuilding the society," the paper concluded.