UN General Assembly
2001

problem of failing States — but not just in Afghanistan, and not only after a catastrophe has occurred. No conflict prevention measures have ever been undertaken in Afghanistan. Far from it. This has proved to be a fatal error. For more than 20 years, a humanitarian catastrophe has been playing itself out before the eyes of the world, in which women and children, in particular, have suffered. Civil war, human rights violations and abject misery have also been the nourishing ground for the unprecedented symbiosis between the terrorists of the Al Qaeda group and the Taliban regime. From there the trail leads directly to the horrific attacks in the United States. As hard as this decision may be, without the use of military means, this threat cannot be averted. We must not forget that the suffering of the people in Afghanistan is above all the work of the Taliban. It was the Taliban that, long before 11 September, increasingly impeded effective humanitarian relief, robbed women and girls of all their rights and actively supported terrorism, also with the