Sir, - Twenty-one years after the 1979 Soviet invasion and 11 years after the withdrawal of the last Soviet soldier in 1989, Afghanistan is a country in which armed conflict between political factions has continued unabated.
When I worked there, I witnessed at first hand a country devastated to its very foundations and a people at the end of their resources. As if the 21 years of conflict were not enough to cause untold suffering, Afghans have had to endure unprecedented drought over the past three years. Village wells have run dry, goats and sheep have died, children are suffering from malnutrition. Famine has tightened its grip.
Today fearful Afghan families, terrified at the prospect of American-led military action, are fleeing their homes and villages in a frantic attempt to reach relative security in Pakistan. With winter approaching, the threat of military escalation, the worst drought in 30 years, are we to accept the possibility of hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths in Afghanistan as a response to what happened in the United States? While military strategists will assure us that everything possible will be done to avoid "collateral damage" and "civilian deaths", those of us who have served on the front line of humanitarian programmes know that civilians are increasingly the victims of conflict. Civilian causalities of war have increased from under 10 per cent in the first World War to over 60 per cent in the second World War, to almost 90 per cent today. Since the 1980s the number of refugees has increased from 2.2 million to 12.4 million, while the number of internally displaced people has risen to over 25 million.
I have no doubt that what President Bush has called "the first war of the 21st century" will follow this same pattern.
Should military action dominate? The coming months will present unprecedented challenges to the humanitarian community as we struggle to gain access and mobilise resources. As in the past, the Government and people of Ireland can and should play a leadership role in spearheading an international, non-partisan, non-military effort to help those who for whatever reason are unable to help themselves, and for whom no government is able or willing to take responsibility.
The deaths of the innocent in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania and our rightful condemnation of the evil which organised and carried out these terrible acts must not lead to further civilian victims in Afghanistan or elsewhere. - Yours, etc.,
Vincent O'Reilly, Chief Executive, Refugee Trust International, Blessington Street, Dublin 7.