For one summer soon after the Taliban had come to power, I worked lobbying the American government not to recognize the government unless they improved their treatment of women. This was before bin Laden became a resident. That alone did more to assure that the Taliban would remain exiled from American support than any of my organization’s work.

The Taliban has allowed bin Laden to seek shelter in Afghanistan most likely because he has provided military support against opposition leaders who, during the Cold War, were supported by America against the Soviet-installed regime. The same day as the World Trade Center bombing, the main opposition leader, Ahmed Shah Masood (now covertly supported by Russia, India and Iran), was assassinated, some say by bin Laden and company.

It is a complicated, bloody, tragic national story if there ever was one. One dominated by the interference and mindless meddling of other nations, and the failure and poverty of the people caught in the midst of the struggle. If there is a national antithesis to the American story of success and growth, Afghanistan is it.

So, the question is, assuming bin Laden is behind the bombings, what is the proper response? Should we, as Bush has suggested we will, launch a full-on assault on Afghanistan? It is hard to see what this would accomplish. Afghanistan already knows that America’s military might far exceeds its own. It is already banking on the hope that America couldn’t possibly do anything worse to the country than has already been done. It is also hoping that its feebleness, abject misery and pleading will spare it more damage. Afghanistan knew that harboring bin Laden would earn them the wrath of America, but figured that the 2,000 or 3,000 men that bin Laden could supply to protect them from the immediate threat of opposition invasion was worth it.

If we let Afghanistan off the hook, we let other nations harboring terrorists think they can get away with it too. If we bomb Afghanistan to oblivion, we will make other small, impoverished countries fear and hate us even more strongly. We already know that the retributive policy pursued in Israel has only increased the terrorists’ resolve and undermined the power of the only people who can curb terrorism—the governments of the countries who harbor them.