Mr Tony Blair yesterday mounted a wide-ranging and emotional defence of the military campaign against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in an effort to stiffen the resolve of British citizens who have been questioning its results and objectives. Recalling the dreadful events of September 11th he painted a grim picture of what will happen if the resolve to retaliate against those responsible falters. He said they want to destroy Israel, eradicate the Jewish people and install fundamentalist states in the Arab and Muslim world.
It was a heartfelt if predictable speech, designed to rally British public opinion and counter critics who say there are as yet no discernible results from the bombing, that it is needlessly deepening the refugee crisis and disproportionately affecting civilians. Mr Blair acknowledged that these charges deserve to be answered; they are undoubtedly impressing themselves on public opinion, as is shown in opinion polls. In replying to them he reminded the Welsh Assembly that this is necessarily a long campaign constrained by military secrecy. He spoke of the huge volume of evidence that the Talibans are sheltering Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organisation. He vowed his government will not falter in its commitment to wage this campaign to the bitter end.
Britain has played a pivotal role in constructing the campaign and ensuring transatlantic solidarity behind it. Mr Blair's immediate instinct was to express his complete support for the United States and its leadership in what he has portrayed as a struggle in defence of civilised values in the Western as well as the Muslim world. That conviction is impressive in its universalism. And Mr Blair has shown a real strength in asserting leadership within the European Union in support of the US-led campaign.
Implicit in this approach has been a signal to the US that it cannot succeed alone in such an inherently international campaign, but must work with its friends and partners throughout the world. On the evidence so far that lesson is being learned. As the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said in New York yesterday, the United Nations has an indispensable role to play in resolving the crisis legitimately. Mr Blair has resisted calls for a pause in the bombing campaign to enable humanitarian relief to be delivered. But there is a compelling case to consider it before winter sets in and millions of people are left homeless and hungry.
Despite the growing public disquiet about the military campaign and its objectives there has not as yet been a significant drop in public support in the UK or the US, but rather a perfectly legitimate questioning of its effectiveness.
Mr Blair is to be commended for responding in this way to such democratically expressed reservations about military and political strategy. He and other political leaders involved in the campaign are held accountable for its conduct and goals by sympathetic but anxious citizens. The best way to retain their confidence is by an open and frank engagement.