Voices of Mexico no. 58

Our Voice

I. At the close of this issue, we are witnessing what seems to be the end of another stage in the anti-terrorist offensive implemented by the United States, Great Britain and their Western allies. In that stage, Kabul was captured and the precarious power structures of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan dismantled. The search for Osama bin Laden and his most important associates in Al Qaeda continues; and the top Taliban leadership is also undoubtedly a target of the Americans. Nevertheless, their capture does not seem a simple matter in the short term.

Certainly, the destruction of the last redoubt of Taliban resistance means the break-up of what is left of that alliance, today repudiated throughout the world, even in the Arab countries. It also makes for a serious problem of global security and, seen from Washington, represents a threat to the security of the West. That is why we are already seeing and will continue to see an even more diligent adjustment in the United States’ international security agenda. During this adjustment, all of Washington’s friends and allies will be affected. The global order will more clearly than ever be transformed from its very foundations, in its organization and the definition of its priorities. Undoubtedly, this will have an important impact on the domestic agendas of countries like Mexico. In fact, the U.S. internal security agenda has already felt the impact. The series of “patriotic policies” advanced by President Bush appeals to the majority of Americans to fall into line with and obey the new emergency measures implemented by the Department of Justice. Reactions have not been slow in coming and in different parts of the United States, local authorities have refused to detain and interrogate suspicious foreigners simply because they are foreigners.