Summer 2001: "The time has come for the U.S. government to declare war o

I have just come across a Summer 2001 Middle East Quarterly article that
makes recommendations on how the US Government should deal with the Taliban.


"Since its founding in 1994, the Quarterly has had influence in Washington -
prompting the State Department to review policy, helping lobbyists make
compelling arguments on Capitol Hill, and providing speechwriters with
sensible policy ideas".

The journal is published by "The Middle East Forum, a think tank" which
"works to define and promote American interests in the Middle East".

The article is entitled "The Taliban's International Ambitions: Interviews
with Taliban POWs reveal their agenda", by Julie Sirrs. "Julie Sirrs, a
former analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency, made four trips into
Afghanistan from 1997 to 2000, visiting both Taliban and United Front areas.
She is currently vice president of Safehaven Productions as well as a
consultant with Argus International."
http://www.meforum.org/meq/taliban0103.shtml


Sirrs made a number of suggestions for US policy, which are briefly as
follows:

""
Arms sanctions against the Taliban are difficult to enforce given how deeply
the Taliban already are involved in smuggling. What is needed therefore is a
more comprehensive U.S. policy against the Taliban, one that correctly
identifies the movement as an enemy of the United States. 

Options for toughening U.S. policy against the Taliban include the
following:

* Designate the Taliban as a terrorist organization that aids other
terrorist groups such as Al-Qa'ida, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Harakat
al-Ansar/Mujahideen, Hamas, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. 

* Allow the United Front (Northern Alliance?) to reopen Afghanistan's
Washington embassy.  The United States should instead follow the United
Nations and its European allies in recognizing the the United Front's
political arm, the Islamic State of Afghanistan (ISA) as the legitimate
government of Afghanistan. 

* Directly aid the United Front. To maximize the effectiveness of a policy
against the Taliban, the U.S. government should provide the United Front
with funding, perhaps from the more than $1 billion currently designated for
counterterrorism.

A more aggressive U.S. policy against the Taliban would demonstrate that
Washington is serious about waging war on terrorism. 

"The time has come for the U.S. government to declare war on the Taliban.
Just as Washington worked with the Afghan mujahidin to help defeat the
Soviet Union, so too could the United States now work with the Afghan
opposition to defeat a new common enemy- terrorism."

http://www.meforum.org/meq/taliban0103.shtml

Julie Sirrs, The Taliban's International Ambitions.url