Asheville Citizen-Times from Asheville, North Carolina • Page 11

AS1IEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES OTHER VIEWS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2001 All Guest Commentary Afghanistan: Hard to get harder to get out (.:,,) trality, but Khrushchev narrowly escaped assassination when dissidents placed a bomb under a bridge on the road from Bagram Airport. In the decades since Khrushchev's Watson Sims terrorism. Possibly some charismatic figure can unite rebels fighting against the Taliban in Afghanistan, perhaps former King Zahir Shah, who now lives in France. Bradsher, a close follower of events in Afghanistan, says that such opinion polling as is possible shows overwhelming support for the return of the king. After traumatic experience with three other systems, the days of absolute rule may seem more attractive than the alternatives.

By helping the return of Zahir Shah on an interim basis, the United States and its allies might open the door for elections, supervised by the United Nations, in which all Afghans could freely choose their own place in the modern world. Watson Sims lives in Asheville. Pakistan is in the embarrassing position of being asked to help bring it down. The decision is all the more dangerous because Pakistan has its own substantial minority of religous zealots. No student of Afghan history would encourage using American ground troops in that country.

If there is to be an attack by U.S. forces, it is likely to involve missiles and commando forces for lightning strikes and quick withdrawal on selected targets. For the long run, the United States must look not only for ways to guard our cities against terrorist attack but help the Afghan people free themselves of zealots who hold the country hostage. Many Afghans, like my friend the former Minister of Information, dream of their country's liberation from zealotry and By Watson Sims The New York Times reported this week that journalists from around the world are scrambling to cover news from Afghanistan. I wish them well, for from personal experience I know that covering news from Afghanistan is not an easy matter.

From February, 1958, to June, 1961, Afghanistan was one of six countries I covered as Associated Press Chief of Bureau in New Delhi. A man I appointed as AP correspondent in Kabul later became Minister of Information, but he, like many educated Afghans, was forced to flee the country and died as a taxi driver in Washington, D.C. My own most memorable visit to Afghanistan was in i960, when another superpower delivered an ultimatum to Kabul. Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev demanded then that the Afghans stop playing both sides in the Cold War and tilt toward Moscow. It was certainly true that the Afghans were playing both sides.

The Soviets built them a large airport at Bagram, 25 miles from Kabul, while the Americans built them an airport at Quandahar, the country's second largest city. The Soviets built them a huge flour mill and an enormous silo, which they then filled with American wheat. Against this background, Khrushchev arrived in Kabul on March 2, i960, and I drove up through the Khyber Pass to cover his visit. Not only did two days of tense talks with King Zahir Shah and his powerful cousin, Prime Minister Mohammad Daoud, fail to budge the Afghans from neu- During my time of coverage, Pakistan and Afghanistan were deadly enemies, and fighting often erupted along their 1,500 mile border. A single battle in October, i960, left 600 Afghans dead.

After the Soviet Union pulled out in 1989, however, Pakistan, seeing opportunities for new trade routes through Afghanistan into Central Asia, took a hand in fighting among Afghan tribesmen by backing the Taliban. Henry Bradsher, a former colleague in the Associated Press and author of an authoritative book on Afghanistan, contends that the Taliban were created, funded and supplied by Pakistan. But Pakistan, like other outside powers throughout history, found Afghan allies impossible to control. And now, having helped to create the Taliban government, visit, Afghanistan has been governed by a king, by communist and non-communist regimes, and by the religious zealot Taliban. King Zahir Shah was overthrown by his cousin, Mohammad Daoud in 1973.

Five years later, Daoud was assassinated by communists, and in 1979 the Soviet Army invaded Afghanistan for a war that lasted 10 years and ended in disaster that helped bring down the Soviet Union. Commentary Syndicated Columnist Is America really ready for a war without end? Of pacifism and war If this is the first war, lthough most Americans seem to understand the gravity of the situation r5 7x 1 that terrorism has put us in and tVi rAfH fnr enmp crirmc militarv 'Z. response, even if that means dan-' gers to the lives of us all there Thomas Sowell curing, while on the edge of a volcano. In the forefront are college 1rmm. rpn --tig a Mi- I (It -1 1 1 4tr 1 By Susan Nielsen NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE The most unsettling part of this "new kind of war" is not the U.S.

military rumbling toward the Middle East, or the vows of a jihad from Afghanistan's Taliban though both are more than enough for long nights of fitful dreams. It is the prospect of fighting a battle that no one can tell when it's won. We will have no T-Day. No crowning moment to celebrate the world's victory over terrorism. We will have an ongoing struggle with a diffuse enemy.

We will struggle with our own unease. This is a distinctly un-American feeling. If it lasts, it will be one of the greatest casualties of this new kind of war. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks leveled the World Trade Center towers in New York City, burned the Pentagon in Washington, and left a blackened grave in the farmlands of Pennsylvania.

While Americans were still absorbing the shock of missing skyscrapers, President Bush called the attack an act of war "the first war of the 21st century." All at once, the nation had to absorb three inconceivable thoughts: Innocent Americans were murdered doing everyday things like getting coffee or going on a trip. War is still alive, not a thing to preserve in the nostalgia-tinged footage of the History Channel. more are to come. On American ground, along the sidewalks of ordinary life. This is why we spend most evenings either huddled in front of the news or trying to escape it.

It is the blast of unreality, bringing grief and pride and bewilderment. And underneath, a nagging unease. Disneyland is empty these days, as are Las Vegas and Waikiki Beach. Lines of Americans are standing, docile as lambs, letting themselves be searched and poked and questioned. Unblinking even vaguely relieved when others are whisked away.

Anything for safety. Anything, anything. In public, we raise flags and sing hymns. With friends, we're already brainstorming war slogans: Osama, call yo' Mama. The rituals and the inanity are comforting.

So are the speeches from President Bush about the infallibility of the country necessary words to combat any evidence to the contrary. In private, we wonder what's next. The United States will get through this. But the unfamiliar nature of this fight is unsettling on three levels. First, civilians like you and me are more likely to stay fearful in a war waged by terrorists than in one waged by a military, because the traditional rules of war do not apply.

Everyone is a target, which prompts a futile, rattling game of "Outguess the Terrorist:" If 1 1 H.Tf I 'ha'-iily 'liiiiuiiffiii end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated." The Bush administration has cast a net around the world. All who hate the United States may be guilty until proven innocent. It is an America-sized goal. It seems, sometimes, the only way to pay respect to so many dead and broken-hearted. But every time my president speaks of a tireless crusade to rid the world of evil, I get a little more uneasy.

an indefinite state of emergency in which the right to privacy becomes a privilege, and the rights of due process and court review are suspended for everyone who isn't American enough. Last is the Bush administration's cry for "infinite justice." "Operation Infinite Justice" was the initial code name for planned U.S. operations in the Middle East. This name was too offensive to keep, but is too accurate to ignore. "Our war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there," President Bush told Congress and the world Thursdsay night.

"It will not I were a terrorist, would I aim for the Statue of Liberty next? Lie low until the Winter Olympics? Or scare the holy marbles out of everyone by poisoning an unassuming place like a suburb of Portland, Nursing this low level of personal fear is taxing, and makes people more likely to accept injustices. Or inflict them. Second, this new kind of war apparently will be a mix of war tactics and peacetime procedures, carried out at home as well as abroad. Though appropriate, there is a real risk of blurring the two; of turning a national crisis into Nielsen is an associate editor at The Oregonian of Portland. She can be contacted at Syndicated Columnist students who demand a "peaceful" response to an act of war.

But there are others who are old enough to know better, who are still repeating the pacifist platitudes of the 1930s that contributed so much to bringing on World War II. A former ambassador from the weak-kneed Carter administration says that we should look at the "root causes" behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We should understand the "alienation" and "sense of grievance" against us by various people in the Middle East. It is astonishing to see the 1960s phrase "root causes" resurrected at this late date and in this context. It was precisely this kind of thinking, which sought the "root causes of crime" during that decade, creating soft policies toward criminals, which led to skyrocketing crime rates.

On the international scene, trying to assuage aggressors' feelings and look at the world from their point of view has had an even more catastrophic track record. A typical sample of this kind of thinking can be found in a speech to the British Parliament by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in 1938: "It has always seemed to me that in dealing with foreign countries we do not give ourselves a chance of success unless we try to understand their mentality, which is not always the same as our own, and it really is astonishing to contemplate how the identically same facts are regarded from two different angles." Like our former ambassador from the Carter era, Chamberlain sought to "remove the causes of strife or war." He wanted "a general settlement of the grievances of the world without war." In other words, the British prime minister approached Hitler with the attitude of someone negotiating a labor contract. What Chamberlain did not understand was that all his concessions simply led to new demands from Hitler and contempt for him by Hitler. What Winston Churchill understood at the time, and Chamberlain did not, was that Hitler was driven by what Churchill called "currents of hatred so intense as to sear the souls of those who swim upon them." That was also what drove the men who drove the planes into the World Trade Center. Pacifists of the 20th century had a lot of blood on their hands for weakening the Western democracies in the face of rising belligerence and military might in aggressor nations like Nazi Germany and imperial Japan.

All of this encouraged the Nazis and the Japanese toward war against countries that they knew had greater military potential than their own. Military potential only counts when there is the will to develop it and use it, and the fortitude to continue with a bloody war when it comes. This is what they did not believe the West had. And it was Western pacifists who led them to that belief. Then as now, pacifism was a "statement" about one's ideals that paid little attention to actual consequences.

At a Labor Party rally where Britain was being urged to disarm "as an example to others," economist Roy Harrod asked one of the pacifists: "You think our example will cause Hitler and Mussolini to disarm?" The reply was: "Oh, Roy, have you lost all your idealism?" In other words, the issue was about making a "statement" that is, posturing on the edge of a volcano, with World War II threatening to erupt at any time. When disarmament advocate George Bernard Shaw was asked what Britons should do if the Nazis crossed the channel into Britain, the playwright replied, "Welcome them as tourists." What a shame our schools and colleges neglect history, which could save us from continuing to repeat the idiocies of the past, which are even more dangerous now in a nuclear age. This column is distributed by Creators Syndicate. Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. 94305.

His web site is New crisis another dreadful blow to state finances the same day that his brother, the president, reporting record enrollments in their public colleges. A softer job market has influenced more recent high school graduates to continue their education, and fewer of I Weill uciuic a juiui av-j I sion of Congress and a I vast national television them think they can afford private col While North Carolina has struggled all year to work out a tax increase, most states are trying to avoid that option by holding back their spending. But that has proved to be extremely leges. So the state schools are being swamped. And, after dramatic drops in wel audience to rally the nation for a struggle with terrorism, Florida Gov.

Jeb Bush had a more awkward task. David Broder fare rolls during the long economic boom, more states are beginning to see them inch upward. A Health and Human Services Department report said 18 states saw increases in the number of welfare re cipients in the six months ending last March, and the economy has faltered further since then. In President Bush's home state of October unprecedented even in wartime because of its budget crisis. Hawaii may have to use some of its tobacco settlement money and deplete its hurricane relief fund just to get through the current fiscal year.

But it is not just high-tourism states that are reeling economically. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack last week ordered a $108 million cut in state spending this year and said he expected next year's budget to be slashed almost twice as much. He warned that there will be layoffs of state employees and that higher education will take a heavy hit in order to protect elementary and secondary school programs. The president of Iowa State University called the prospective reductions "devastating," but Vilsack said the slowest enue growth in 18 years left him no alternative.

The aftershock of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which temporarily shut down the air- line industry and last week clobbered the stock market, hit state governments at a time when their finances already had been weakened. Last week, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, part of the State University of New York in Albany, said the growth of state tax revenues in the April-June quarter was the weakest in eight years. The old economy states of the Midwest and the Plains have been hit hardest, because of the decline in manufacturing and agriculture. But the Texas, unemployment was reported last week to have hit 4.9 percent, the highest level in three years.

August was the sixth straight month in which Texas jobless numbers increased. He told his constituents that he had reluctantly decided a special session of the Legislature will be needed to slash the state budget in the face of a drastic decline in the economy. Jeb Bush acted after his economists warned him that even before they could factor in the effect on the state's $50 billion tourist industry of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the economic slump threatened to knock a $673 million hole in his budget Now, the shortfall could easily top $1 billion in a $48 billion budget. Florida is far from alone. Indeed, while Congress and President Bush ignore the budget constraints that loomed so large until September 11, busily approving billions for the Pentagon, for recovery efforts in New York City and for bailing out the airlines, state governments are facing the sudden shock of falling revenues and forced spending cuts.

Hawaii, another state heavily dependent on tourism, has seen its governor, Ben Cayetano, call the third special legislative session of the year for states reporting serious fiscal trouble also included Arizona, Missouri, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington. The South has not been spared, and last week, even states such as Colorado and Maryland, which had been reporting healthy surpluses, said the fiscal warning signs are clear. Unlike the federal government, most states are required to balance their general funds each year. While North Carolina has struggled all year to work out a tax increase, most states are trying to avoid that option by holding back their spending. But that has proved to be extremely difficult, because costs are rising in several of the major areas of the state budget.

The worst problem is in the Medicaid program for low-income families. Powered by increasing prescription drug costs, Medicaid budgets are rising at double-digit percentage rates in many states. A large number of states are also Budget analysts in Washington said the fact that so many states are being forced to cut spending in the face of economic worries may increase the pressure on the administration and Congress to provide more stimulus either by cutting taxes or boosting spending or both. The grass-roots picture is not pret ty, Readers can write Broder do Washington Post Writer's Group, 1150 15th St NW, Washington, D.C, 20071. MALLARD FILLMORE Bruce Tinsley D00NESBURY Garry Trudeau v1 1.

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