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Muslim Leaders Warn US Against Consequences of Strikes
Leaders of the local Muslim community warned the US government Monday it risked turning the world Islamic community against it, if air strikes against Afghanistan resulted in many civilian casualties.
"If it's limited to the extremists, to the infrastructure of the al-Qaeda network, it's one thing," Salam Al-Marayati, national director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council told reporters in Los Angeles.
"But once we start seeing a rise in casualties in civilians, then I think there's a concern that we're going to be making more enemies in this campaign," he added.
Al-Marayati cautioned the government against using one armed Afghan faction against the other.
"These differences between Afghani groups should be resolved on the political table, not in the battlefield," he said. "Because the battlefields are where the warlords like Osama bin Laden become the instrumental factor in terms of who gets power in Afghanistan."
Khalil Momand of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California said he believed a return of Afghanistan of deposed king Mohammed Zahir Shah "could be a starter" in bringing about national reconciliation.
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