Muslim leaders urge immediate UN mission for Afghanistan
Muslim leaders urge immediate UN mission for Afghanistan
Kurniawan Hari
and Muhammad Nafik
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Muslim leaders and scholars here on Sunday urged the United
Nations to immediately launch peacekeeping operations in
Afghanistan to halt the war that continued to rage despite calls
for restraint during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadhan.
"Letting troops from the United States and its allies continue
their strikes on Afghanistan would only create complicated
problems because of the various factions there," Azyumardi Azra,
rector of Jakarta's Syarif Hidayatullah State Institute for
Islamic Studies (IAIN), told The Jakarta Post.
He said the UN's presence was badly needed to "help the
process of creating a transitional government" in Afghanistan
following the fall of Kabul to Northern Alliance opposition
forces.
As the world's most populous Muslim country and one of the
moderate Islamic nations, Azyumardi said, Indonesia should
continue to encourage the deployment of a UN peace-keeping force
in Afghanistan.
"We should continue to push for the UN to come to Afghanistan.
This is the only realistic way we can propose to help restore
peace there," he said.
UN officials had said the world body was preparing a blueprint
for a post-Taliban government in Afghanistan as several Western
and Muslim countries suggested that the UN launch peacekeeping
operations there.
However, the UN apparently was reluctant to do so despite
continued U.S. bombing of positions near Kandahar and Kundus, the
Taliban's two remaining strongholds.
Indonesia has offered to contribute troops to a possible UN
multinational force to Afghanistan, a move that would likely
please Washington, its allies and Muslim nations.
Azyumardi said the possible international force should largely
consist of troops from Muslim nations in order to avoid a biased
stance in their peacekeeping operations.
Ahmad Syafii Ma'arif, chairman of the second largest Muslim
organization, Muhammadiyah, concurred, saying the UN's
peacekeeping role was urgent in Afghanistan.
However, he questioned the UN's courage to come to Afghanistan
and doubted that it would exercise a fair stance in the possible
peacekeeping mission.
"It (the UN's presence) will be the best solution. But I doubt
if the UN has the courage (to go to Afghanistan), because it is
still being controlled by the U.S.," Syafii told the Post.
Also doubting the neutrality of the UN was Din Syamsuddin,
secretary general of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) --
the nation's top Islamic authority. "The UN has become the
instrument of developed countries to oppress underdeveloped
nations," he said.
Din said the UN's presence was important to create peace, but
it should not be designed to interfere in the formation of a new
government in Afghanistan.
"We should leave this matter to the Afghan people to decide.
If the UN plays a role in the establishment of an administration
in Afghanistan, there will be subjectivity, like what it has done
in East Timor," he said.
Syafii and Azyumardi criticized the Organization of the
Islamic Conference (OIC) for not taking an active role in dealing
with the Afghanistan conflicts.
Syafii said the OIC's silence had prompted the U.S.'s
arrogance, and that the "fragmented stance" of Muslim-based
nations on the Afghanistan war hampered their efforts to adopt a
peaceful solution.
Asked about alternative ways of resolving the Afghan
conflicts, Syafii said: "I think the U.S. must listen to its
conscience and stop its military strikes".
He said the unstoppable U.S.-led military campaign against
Afghanistan had clearly shown that America was anti-civilization.
"It's true that the Taliban rulers are mean. But with its
military campaign, the U.S. has only brought more misery to the
people of Afghanistan," he said.
He said he believed the U.S. would not cease its attacks even
if Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Umar and terrorist suspect
Osama bin Laden were apprehended.
Syafii said the military campaign was only an instrument of
the U.S. to occupy a territory in the east of the Caspian sea,
believed to hold approximately 270 million barrels worth of oil
reserves.