ANTI-TERRORIST ATTACK ON AFGHANI TARGETS WAS EXPECTED
Statement by the President of the Republic of Slovenia Milan Kucan on anti-terrorist attacks on Afganistan
(Audio in Slovenian Language)

Ljubljana, 8 October 2001




The anti-terrorist strike on targets in Afghanistan is part of the measures being undertaken against international terrorism and it was expected. International terrorism is poised against normality and against humanity in the world. It had to be reacted to. Postponing a reaction would have created the sensation that the world could be governed by violence out of control and that the international community wasn't capable of retaliating. It is my firm belief that international
terrorism, its organisers, perpetrators and those who tolerate it must come to see that they are facing an impenetrable wall, they must come to see that
countries will stand up to them united and with all means available.

Regrettably, any war takes its toll on innocent lives. So does the war against terrorism. International terrorism itself claims lives. If we do not stand up to it then it will claim even more innocent lives. This is about the values common to all cultures prevailing in this joint strife of the civilised world. Solidarity in this battle demands resources and action in joint activities. Such solidarity must be targeted against those groups, individuals and regimes that brutally violate these principles throughout the world and bring chaos, intolerance, murder and escalating violence into our human world.

The world has now come to understand the interdependence of our world. It has come to understand that a global world requires global responsibility
and a new, different, also global manner of governance based on this understanding of interdependence and interconnection. Certainly, the strife
against terrorism will take time; these are not activities where one could expect immediate success. The social and political breeding ground for
terrorism will also have to be done away with. We will have to do away with the roots of terrorism: injustice, poverty, and the exclusion of billions of
people onto the outermost margins of life, people who are condemned to a futureless life without hope for prosperity, without hope for participating
in the distribution of humanity's wealth.

At this time of solidarity and specific activities also from the side of Slovenia, I find it necessary to underline the common understanding that these activities are not about vengeance and that they are not about limiting the freedom created by the universal application of human rights. The former or the latter would constitute a defeat of the civilised, democratic, humane world.

Thank you.