September 11

Terrorism is spreading its tentacles and a sizeable chunk of world resources has to be spent to minimise its impact. It is a threat to mankind as a whole. At no point in history has the need for finding a stable and secure world order been felt so acutely as it is today.

The USA is the country, which assigned itself the crucially important task of reining in the terrorists. But the primarily unilateralist approach to eliminating the threat created new problems instead of solving the old ones. The UN was sidetracked as the US led the charge against the militant elements in Afghanistan and the Saddam regime in Iraq.

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In fact, the world has become doubly poorer: on one level, we have seen terrorism evolving into a monstrous evil; on the other it's a divided rather than a united world that is facing the challenge.

The US-led anti-terror campaign has yet to address the root causes behind the scourge. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have only served to feed terrorism. What has compounded the situation is the continuing irresolution of the Palestine issue. Anti-terrorism campaign unfortunately has been reactive to events rather than being responsive to causes.

Terrorism is universally reprehensible because it causes death and destruction on an ever increasing scale; obstructs economic progress; and nullifies the benefits of technological advancement. The anti-terrorism agenda must be brought to the fore of regional and international commitments. But to be effective, the approach has to be based on a correct analysis and assessment of the root causes responsible for its malignant growth. Only then can there be a breakthrough in the fight against the dark forces.