Wrap your mind around statements made in the following story-our enemy does not think or behave as we do in the West. We do not have shared human values-they,in fact, are doing what the story says-remaining in a state of denial does not change reality!

Success in Afghanistan vital to defeat extremism: British FM

Agence France Presse, 7/26/07

Success in establishing democracy in Afghanistan will help in the fight against extremism around the world, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband wrote in an article published Thursday.

Miliband, who made his first visit to the country in his new role Wednesday, said Britain's 7,000-strong presence as part of a NATO force in Afghanistan was essential because Afghanistan was "unique" and "it matters to Britain".

"We need to be engaged there because we know from bitter experience that a lack of governance in that part of the world -- more than anywhere -- can result in a fertile breeding ground for the terrorists who seek to make us at home change our way of life," he wrote in the Daily Mirror tabloid.

"Because of the enormous cost of heroin use and the related crime on our streets. Because if this new democracy can succeed in defeating extremism, as I believe it can, then it is a blow against extremism everywhere."

Not intervening in Afghanistan would be more costly in the long-run, added Miliband, who is now in Pakistan for talks with President Pervez Musharraf on combating Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants along the Afghan frontier.

The newspaper suggested that Miliband's comments -- although similar to those under the previous administration of Tony Blair -- and visit so soon into his role are a sign he sees Afghanistan as a priority.

But it coincided with the death Wednesday of a British soldier in an explosion in the southern province of Helmand, where most of the country's troops are based.

A total of 65 British soldiers have now died in Afghanistan since military action to oust the country's hard-line Taliban rulers began in late 2001.

Meanwhile, the Taliban have vowed to capture as many foreigners as possible, with the Islamists' new military commander in the south, Mansour Dadullah, threatening to use children to behead captives as training for the struggle. Dadullah, who was freed by the Afghan government in May in exchange for a kidnapped Italian journalist, told Britain's Channel 4 news Wednesday evening the Taliban would not rest until all Western forces had been expelled.

Speaking from an undisclosed location near Afghanistan's border with the lawless tribal areas of western Pakistan, he said the summer offensive was "going on as predicted" and that he was in contact with Osama bin Laden.

"Of course, kidnapping is a very successful policy and I order all my mujahideen to kidnap foreigners of any nationality wherever they find them and then we should do the same kind of deal," he told the broadcaster.

He added: "We want to use children to behead infidels and spies so that they will become brave." Britain's Defense Secretary Des Browne told the broadcaster in response: "I would contradict the suggestion that the Taliban are somehow overmatching us in Helmand or are spreading their influence. They are not."

He dismissed Dadullah's claims as propaganda and said NATO forces were helping make life better for Afghans by improving security and reconstruction.