Moderate Muslims

On Thursday the Indonesian President, Megawati Soekarnoputri, warned the U.S. that its bombardment of Afghanistan should halt during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan, which begins in mid- November. A "humanitarian pause" is essential, she says, to allow aid agencies to deliver desperately needed food and medical supplies and prevent a humanitarian disaster as winter takes hold.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation. It is also a moderate Muslim state which rejects the religious extremism which drives Osama bin Laden's network. Indonesia was quick to condemn the suicide attacks on the U.S. and to declare its commitment to a global coalition against terrorism. It does not, however, support a war against the people of Afghanistan.

Washington needs the support of moderate Muslims as it pursues its "just war" against "terrorism" and it can expect that support as long as the targets are clear and there is no suggestion that the war has become one not against terrorists but against a Muslim people.

Islamic terrorism feeds off the deep sense of injustice that consumes too many of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims. Now the bombing of Afghanistan is further galvanizing anti-U.S. sentiment in such moderate nations. In the longer term, the destabilization of moderate Muslim states by anti-U.S. Islamic militants could prove as threatening to global security as were the Sept. 11 attacks.

-- The Sydney Morning Herald