Latest victims of terror are Muslims

The Nation, Asia News Network, Bangkok

The Islamic world is now being targeted, so it must rethink its double standards about al-Qaeda and the Taleban

The recent suicide attack by al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia was met with unusually loud condemnation from the Muslim world, apparently because virtually all the victims were Muslims and perhaps because Riyadh has been one of the most generous aid givers to poorer Muslim nations.

In contrast, exactly the same heinous acts being carried out by Taleban terrorists in Afghanistan have hardly attracted any outrage from the Muslim world, perhaps because the country is a pauper state struggling to build itself up from total collapse.

Saudi-born Osama bin Laden continues to finance Taleban attacks against foreign aid workers in Afghanistan and the Afghan civilians working with them.

It is now clear that Muslim terrorist groups consider fellow Muslims legitimate targets in their international campaign of terror. The Muslim world will eventually have to come to grips with this unexpected turn of events, compelling them to abandon their long-standing double standards.

Double standards explain why Muslim outrage has almost always been reserved for situations in which Muslims are at the receiving end of aggression. They are now finding out that victims of terrorist acts, regardless of their nationality, ethnicity or religious faith, all experience the same human tragedy and suffering.

Routinely driven off or beaten by coalition or government troops, the Taleban, like their al-Qaeda brethren elsewhere, have over recent months stepped up their attacks against "soft" or undefended targets in Afghanistan.

On Sept. 8 in Ghazi, for example, Taleban gunmen forced a vehicle carrying five aid workers off the road. Four were executed with bullets to the back of the head. A fifth was shot in both legs and left alive to tell the story and to deliver the Taleban's warning to other relief workers not to help Afghan women.

In early September the radicals raided another "soft" target with the firebombing of a girls' elementary school south of Kabul.

The group is opposed to educating women, calling such practice abhorrent to their idea of the "pure Islamic state" they seek to establish. The raiders also left notes warning the teachers who persist in educating girls that they will face a severe reaction.

Mullah Omar, the Taleban's overall leader, is reported to be "delighted" by the attacks his followers are making on women and aid workers, top Taleban field commander Mullah Sabir told a reporter.

Civilians, including many women and some children, account for most of the 280 people killed in Taleban attacks since the fall of their government two years ago.

Under the Taleban, women were forbidden to hold jobs, attend school or engage in sports and were discouraged from leaving their homes. When out in public, they were required to wear the burka, a loose-fitting garment that covers them from head to foot.

The Taleban condemn the government of President Hamid Karzai and what they call "foreign charities" for encouraging Afghans to resume their previous habits and for such "evil" practices as opening schools and sports facilities to girls and encouraging women to work outside the home.

International relief agencies, charities and the United Nations in particular have been a permanent fixture on the Afghan scene since the Soviet invasion 24 years ago. They established camps for the millions of Afghan refugees who fled the country.

Once the Soviets withdrew and the civil war against the communists ended, these agencies resettled the refugees in their former homes and helped with everything from removing mines to rebuilding schools, mosques and other public buildings.

These groups continued to work even during the Taleban administration. Today, millions of Afghans still rely on relief agencies for food, medicine and other assistance.

Moderate and sensible Muslims everywhere who have too often been cowed into submission by the extremist elements in their societies must abandon the double standards that make a distinction between non-Muslim and Muslim victims of terrorists. After all, there is only one standard for humanity, which calls for the eradication of terrorism from the face of the earth.