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Mandela hopes for swift end to US military campaign in Afghan
Former South African President Nelson Mandela has expressed hope for a swift conclusion to the US-led campaign in Afghanistan but said the Taliban militia had brought this war on the country.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela has expressed hope for a swift conclusion to the US-led campaign in Afghanistan but said the Taliban militia had brought this war on the country.
Delivering the Anwar Sadat lecture for peace at the University of Maryland, Mandela said that people in Afghanistan who refuse to cooperate with the international forces against terrorism have brought this war on the country and are the ones in the first place responsible for further tragic suffering.
The United States launched its campaign against the Taliban when they refused to turn over Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden and members of his Al-Qaeda network, the prime suspects behind the September 11 terror attacks on US landmarks that killed more than 5,000 people. Nonetheless, Mandela said, we must wish that the military action needed in pursuit of the objectives against terrorism will be concluded in the shortest time possible so the world's attention can turn to the other forms of action required to combat and eradicate terrorism.
Mandela -- or Madiba, his Xhosa clan name, by which he is affectionately known -- said many in the world had hoped the new millennium would herald a new era of consensus about global responsibility for peace.
But the terrible audacity of the September 11 attack --which Mandela estimated took at least two years to orchestrate -- shook all of us out of preconceptions about peace and security in the world, he lamented.
Bureau Report
The United States launched its campaign against the Taliban when they refused to turn over Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden and members of his Al-Qaeda network, the prime suspects behind the September 11 terror attacks on US landmarks that killed more than 5,000 people. Nonetheless, Mandela said, we must wish that the military action needed in pursuit of the objectives against terrorism will be concluded in the shortest time possible so the world's attention can turn to the other forms of action required to combat and eradicate terrorism.
Mandela -- or Madiba, his Xhosa clan name, by which he is affectionately known -- said many in the world had hoped the new millennium would herald a new era of consensus about global responsibility for peace.
But the terrible audacity of the September 11 attack --which Mandela estimated took at least two years to orchestrate -- shook all of us out of preconceptions about peace and security in the world, he lamented.
Bureau Report