[Second Issue of the Day]

#3
Gorbachev warns against rash Afghanistan moves

BERLIN, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended
Moscow's nine-year military intervention in Afghanistan, called for caution
in response to the attacks on the World Trade Centre in an interview
published on Thursday.

"When one finds out that some terrorists studied in the Harburg area of
Hamburg, one would not bomb Hamburg," Gorbachev told the Frankfurter
Allgemeine newspaper. "We shouldn't lose our heads. We need a dialogue with
Islam."

The United States suspects that three students at Germany's Hamburg Technical
University flew three of the four hijacked planes used in last week's
attacks.

Gorbachev withdrew Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1988, ending a conflict
that started at the end of 1979 and resulted in at least 13,000 Soviet
deaths.

"This war was not only a trauma for us, it taught us an important lesson,"
the last Soviet leader said.

"How can one wage a conventional war in this mountainous country? By again
introducing tanks and bombing cities? By sending in soldiers to bring areas
under control? I cannot imagine this."

 
Back to the Top    Next Section

	Excerpts from the JRL E-Mail Newsletter   Headlines: Assassinations :: JRL RAS #44 - November 2008: VLADISLAV BUGERA: PORTRAIT OF A POST-MARXIST THINKER: Introduction, Interviews ~ ECONOMY: Financial crisis • Energy ~ POLITICS: Tandemocracy • Hostel evictions • HISTORY: JEWS AND CHRISTIANS UNDER LATE TSARISM :: Support Johnson's Russia List :: U.S.-Russian Relations :: Chechnya :: Ukraine :: YUKOS :: Economy & Business
	Topics: Security/International :: Domestic :: JRL :: Firefox-optimal :: site feedback