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Europe

Le Figaro, France
So it took one year for the 21st century to witness its first major war. A new kind of war, because it is directed not at a country but at an ideology and a practice, namely terrorism. Of course, the conflict will be long: the latest threats from Bin Laden's group shows the terrorists' tenacity. The most dangerous illusion would be to believe that we can eradicate terrorism simply because we have decided to do so.

Libération, France
Even when justified by the necessity of dismantling Bin Laden's networks, the recourse to force is an exceptionally serious step. The response to murderous folly cannot and must not be vengeance, which would make us players in the same game as those we want to combat. The inevitable victims of that would be a people who have already been held hostage for too long both by foreign powers and by their own warlords.

Die Welt, Germany
Whoever thought that, after the terrorist attacks of September 11, America would overreact has been disabused. Whoever, by contrast, hoped that the United States might underreact was similarly mistaken. One cannot reproach the Americans... the deployment of arms was prepared for with cool rationality. 

Der Tagesspiegel, Germany
Was a military response really necessary given the fact that, for four weeks, everything has gone so smoothly at the diplomatic level? Ought there not rather to have been a concentration on the eradication of the causes of terrorism? Evil needs to be confronted head on and at once; the factors which magnify it must be dealt with more comprehensively in the medium term. 

El Pais, Spain
The US response to September 11 is not only justified but necessary. The world cannot be under the permanent threat of a band of fanatics. The conflict will be long and complex. It will not be limited just to Afghanistan. But, from this tragedy, new opportunities should open up to pacify the Middle East and create a more just and governable world.

Le Soir, Belgium
For the time being the strikes seem akin to punishment, more severe than an operation to find and bring the terrorists to justice, but not a wave of blind reprisals borne out of only vengeance. The thorniest question is, however, what consequences they will have. We will soon know if the so-called "surgical" strikes inflicted human collateral damage.

La Repubblica, Italy
The confrontation is between a free democracy and an astute psychopath. So those graffiti of light that we saw again in the night over Kabul are only the beginning, because there is no bomb capable of disintegrating madness.

Middle East and Asia

The Nation, Pakistan
A different war from the Gulf war, the attack has come amongst a general mood of despondency in Pakistan. Just as the people were horror-struck by the terror attacks in the US, they are now grimly witnessing the crushing of an already ravaged country. The notorious short attention span of the US and the west might leave Islamabad once again with a load of desperate refugees with no place to go.

Jerusalem Post, Israel
While the prime minister, Ariel Sharon, may have overstepped the rhetorical bounds last week when he said Israel would not play the role of Czechoslovakia in a repeat of the appeasement of 1938, his message is fundamentally correct. A war against terror and the countries that sponsor it cannot ignore the war of terrorism that Palestinian groups, backed by a number of Arab states and the Palestinian Authority, have launched against Israel.

Gulf News, UAE
The action will create resentment from some Muslims and Arabs, who will see this action as being against them. It is important that the coalition and its supporters reassure such people that the coalition has a single purpose: that terrorists should be brought to justice.

Babel, Iraq
The US aggression on Afghanistan is one form of organised terrorism. The United States and its allies will fail in Afghanistan as it did in Vietnam, Somalia and in their aggression and sanctions on Iraq.

Tishreen, Syria
We are not mistaken when we say that the escalation of world terror, and the terrorist actions against the United States... is a result of the Israeli rulers' practices and their flagrant violation of the basic human principles and values. The success of any campaign depends totally on deterring Israeli rulers and forcing them to abide by international law.

Arab News, Saudi Arabia
New York's mayor, Rudy Giuliani, said yesterday that "life goes on as normal in New York" despite the US strikes in Afghanistan. President Bush should realise that in this part of the world, life will not "go on as normal" if the operations continue indefinitely and widen to include other countries.

Daily Star, Lebanon
Even if the Americans get lucky and Bin Laden is killed he will have a victory of sorts if other questions are left hanging. This can best be accomplished by an immediate US push for a fair resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Then no one will even want to remember Bin Laden, let alone support him.

United States

New York Times
A new and more dangerous phase of America's counter-attack against terror began yesterday. It is an anxious time in which fears of further terrorist attacks may loom even larger. Bin Laden has warned that Americans may never again feel secure. Right now, we can only know that they feel steadfast, and united in the determination that, however long it takes, Osama bin Laden and his associates will be hunted down.

Washington Post
The broad support [for the military action] is one dividend of the Bush administration's decision to hold off military action for almost four weeks while building a coalition, and collecting and disseminating evidence of al-Qaida's involvement in the September 11 attacks. Another such dividend can be seen in the careful coordination of the visible parts of yesterday's operation; even as cruise missiles were knocking out the lights in Kabul and Kandahar, US planes were dropping rations of food and medicine.

Detroit News
The president should be applauded for taking the time to patiently plan and execute America's response. For the past two weeks, Mr Bush has reiterated his demands for the Taliban to cough up Bin Laden. Mr Bush had no choice but to act. But he acted with patience and determination.

Kansas City Star
An obvious concern is whether terrorist cells in Europe or the United States will now initiate a new round of attacks. The possibility can't be discounted. In a statement videotaped before Sunday's military action, Bin Laden threatened that America "will never dream of security or see it before we live it and see it in Palestine". A military response carries risk, but the greater risk is failure to act.

Atlanta Journal and Constitution
It may prove impossible to avoid chaos among the civilian population or civilian deaths. It is likely, as well, that US forces will sustain casualties eventually. In the days ahead, as special forces are deployed to search for Bin Laden and his minions, the campaign will grow more treacherous and unpredictable. But Bush was left with no choice.

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