Afghans wary of what’s next
Published 9:00 pm Friday, September 14, 2001
Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan – Amid growing fears of a U.S. military attack, war-weary Afghans resigned themselves Friday to the possibility of more bloodshed.
“We have suffered so much. Every night so many children go to bed hungry,” said Zalmai, a teacher who like many Afghans uses only one name. “What do we have to live for? Let the rockets come and set this whole country on fire once and for all.”
Afghanistan, where civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives in recent decades, is a likely target of U.S. retaliation because its Taliban rulers provide shelter to Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in this week’s terror attacks in New York.
In Afghanistan and the rest of the Muslim world during the Islamic Sabbath on Friday, reaction to the attacks ranged from joy to sorrow to raw fear.
In the Pakistani city of Peshawar on Friday, several hundred people emerged from a mosque shouting “jihad!” or holy war, and shouted pro-Afghanistan slogans.
Other Muslims expressed deep sorrow for what was the worst act of terrorism in U.S. history.
“As a Muslim, I am very concerned that these terrible things might have been committed by other Muslims,” said Mohamed Noordin, a 35-year-old banker in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “But whoever did it, I consider them traitors to Islam.”
Fallout from the terror attacks is likely to be felt in Afghanistan more than any other foreign land. Here, some expressed the kind of rage that may have led to the terror attacks in the first place.
“Any enemy of the Muslims will be punished by God,” said Imam Mohammed Muslim Haqqani during Friday prayers at a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul. “The United States and Israel are enemies of Islam.”
Such sentiments are also common in neighboring Pakistan, where Islamic fundamentalists enjoy widespread popularity despite a government that has promised to cooperate with Washington, D.C., in the fight against terrorism.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf faces a tough decision. He can promise full cooperation with Washington and risk the wrath of Muslim fundamentalists at home, or refuse to cooperate and infuriate Washington.
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