LONDON -- The Taliban has been routed and, with the arrival of U.N. peacekeeping forces in Kabul, the prospects for Afghanistan are better than they have been for many years. But Osama bin Laden and his senior henchmen have not been accounted for. The search will have to continue, and terrorist havens, such as Somalia and Yemen, may well have to be tackled.
While the al-Qaeda terrorist threat remains the most serious, terrorist networks exist elsewhere and should be treated with equal rigor. They must not be tolerated on specious grounds such as that terrorist acts are politically motivated and that terrorist groups are merely armed opposition parties.
Some Americans apply double standards concerning terrorist activities in Northern Ireland, no doubt because some Irish-Americans sympathize with the aspirations for a united Ireland.