America is poised to make a fresh gesture

A grand multi-nation coalition is in the process of being clobbered together, led by the United States. It is expected to include the newly fanged Russia, its Central Asian allies, and Nato countries. Many others, including India and some from the Middle East may also join up. This coalition is then expected to sanction action.

A dazzling array of military firepower will be gathered and stationed at a point for attack. Fighter aircraft, assault helicopters and teams of special commandos will be put on standby for the signal. On cue, the armada will gun into life, ready to unleash hell.
The objective: get one man. Osama bin Laden.

This is the scenario painted by a recent Washington datelined news report. It quotes American officials as saying that the decision has been made in principal to launch attacks on bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan.

But before launching the attack, the United States is trying to get important countries on board, in order to minimise the political fallout of the attack. Russia is said to be cooperating – it has a long list of grievances against the Taliban – and other countries are being persuaded to lend their support.

The report says the attack is likely to be launched from one of the Central Asian countries bordering Afghanistan. It may include a few days of bombing on suspected camp sites, and perhaps a 'ground attack' by heliborne commando teams to nab Bin Laden.

The reason for this Hollywood style operation is said to be evidence collected by American investigators linking bin Laden to the bombing of the USS Cole in the port of Aden which killed 17 sailors. The Taliban too will be targeted, but politically instead of militarily, for refusing to hand over bin Laden.

They may face more stringent sanctions, more international isolation, ban on international travel etc. "We are determined to make life very, very difficult for the Taliban in every field," an American official is quoted as saying.

The attack may very well take place, as it did two years ago. It may cause extensive damage, and destroy the alleged camps. There is even a remote possibility that bin Laden may be kidnapped or killed. But what then? Will that be the end of America's problems?

In order to look for answers, one has to travel back some years and focus on the emergence of the phenomenon referred to in the West as "Terrorist International". The jihadis (holy warriors) as they are called now were born on the battlefields of Afghanistan, armed and bankrolled by the American CIA to fight the Soviet occupation army.

They were trained in Pakistan and in camps as far away as Britain, and then sent into hostile Afghan territory. Their numbers grew over the years, with volunteers pouring in from Pakistan and the Middle East (some enthusiasts enlisted from as far as Britain and America).

They were young and highly motivated, the ideal raw material for a fighter. American weapons and Pakistani supervision (and training) helped transform this rag tag group of religious zealots into a deadly force, which ultimately humbled the mighty Soviet Union.

Purpose served

Once the Soviets withdrew, these warriors became a dispensable commodity for the Americans. They were left to fend for themselves. But by now they were flush with confidence, and aware of their power. They were also highly charged and motivated – and battle hardened.

They had fought and defeated the Soviets not because it was in America's strategic interest, but because they genuinely believed they were doing their religious duty – jihad – against the infidel Soviets. And they had prevailed.

Many of these Afghan veterans returned to their home countries, with rebellion bubbling inside them. They were faced with either liberal, Western-styled dictatorial governments or Islamic-oriented dictatorial rulers. In both cases, there was no place for these jihadis.

The only language they knew – and which had worked so well for them in the past – was the language of the gun. And so they expressed their opinions through the barrels of their guns. The 'fundamentalists' thus began to take shape, becoming a scourge for their governments. And for America.

The 'New World Order' was taking shape after the defeat of Iraq in the Gulf War, and America was now physically present in the Middle East. It was hunting 'fundamentalists' and advocating a crackdown on all dissent.

It had just humiliated a Muslim country and was now aiming to subjugate the entire Muslim world. Such logic found a receptive audience among these militant warriors, and in America they found a target. Here was this 'Great Satan' which was responsible for persecuting Muslims, backing Zionists and refusing to save Muslims in places like Palestine and Kashmir.

Bosnia erupted soon enough, and added fuel to these volatile sentiments. Algeria presented a potent example of how the rise of Islamic movements through the ballot were forcefully stopped by the Western-backed government, in blatant contravention of all democratic conventions. America of course, fully backed the Algerian government in annulling the Islamists' electoral victory. The militants had found their new jihad.

Strangely enough, so too had America. The collapse of the Soviet Union had robbed America not just of its main enemy, it had also removed the main reference point for its entire foreign policy. America, all armed and flexed up, had no one to fight.

And so it was that the supreme irony was born. The American telescope, in search of a global enemy, zoomed in on the jihadis just as the jihadis homed in on America as their enemy number one. In a grotesque kind of way, both found what they were looking for; both found a reason to kill.

Searching for a face

America has the advantage of power, and global reach. It has used this power buttressed by its immense resources and international clout, to hunt down jihadis from all corners of the earth. But this advantage is neutralised by a huge, and some say fatal, disadvantage: unlike the good old days of the Cold War, this time America's enemy has no face. It doesn't have a headquarter, or a visible base. In fact, it is not even one single entity. The enemy is out there, but where? And who?

America has the manpower, it has aircraft carriers and missiles and jets, but it doesn't know who to use them against. What use of global power when you don't recognise the enemy. So a jihadi is picked from here, and arrested from there, but that makes little difference because there are thousands who are scattered all over the place.

There is no central command, no hierarchy and no single organisation which can be smashed. It's a loose network of religious enthusiasts with lethal firepower at the disposal, doing their own thing.

Enter Osama bin Laden. A little known Saudi veteran of the Afghan jihad, bin Laden had been on the jihad scene for quite some time, and was probably supported by the CIA. But post-Afghan jihad he turned against the 'infidels' for their presence in the Gulf. But it was only after the bombing of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that bin Laden became a household name.

Suddenly for America, the enemy had a face. And a name. Finally, a target was found for America's wrath to be directed at. How did bin Laden became terrorism personified all of a sudden?

How come he had escaped attention when he controlled