Stardate 20011024.0653 (On Screen): And now each side faces the biggest test. The Taliban have failed it. In recent announcements, the Taliban have demonstrated an extreme concern for the safety of civilians in Afghanistan, showing foreign reporters evidence of US bombs striking and killing civilians, and bewailing their fates -- all, of course, to demonize the Americans and bring political pressure to bear. Now, it seems, they've been sheltering military assets in schools and mosques and civilian houses, and it appears that they don't actually care in the slightest for civilian safety, because they are now endangering their civilians by these acts.
In a response which is sure to become immensely controversial, the US is not letting them get away with it. Any target which contains military equipment or soldiers is a military target, no matter what it is or what is nearby. We cannot allow our enemy to have safe havens where they can be immune to attack.
This is an ugly point in a war; when one side starts using civilians as human shields it is always ugly. A lot of those civilians are going to die needlessly. The real question that has to be asked is who has responsibility for their deaths. In my opinion, the Taliban do. If they truly care about civilian casualties, then they will clear their combatants out of the cities. If they hide among civilians and as a result of that civilians are hurt or killed, it is their responsibility. We are not actively targeting civilians, but we must attack military targets even when they are surrounded by civilians. To do otherwise would be to risk losing the war -- and that is much more important than the risk of inflicting civilian casualties. (discuss)
