Tuesday, August 18, 1998

A lesson in diplomacy

We don't report this development with any sense of malicious glee. But consider:

A large nation backs the ruling government in a bitterly divided Mideast country. The government is ousted by a rigid, radical group of Muslim fundamentalists determined to impose Islamic law and eradicate corrupting Western influences. In the ensuing unrest, the fundamentalists take the nation's diplomats hostage. The outraged nation appeals to the United Nations and the world to little avail.

It could have been the United States and Iran in 1979, but it happens to be Iran and Afghanistan now.

Iran backed the losing faction in Afghanistan's civil war. In recent fighting, the victorious Taliban, who are more religiously fanatical than even Iran's ayatollahs, have captured 11 Iranian diplomats. Or so the Iranians charge. The Taliban, in a reprise of 1979, are evasive about the whereabouts and ultimate fate of the diplomats.

We can take some satisfaction in the aptness of the expression, "What goes around, comes around," but we can also hope for -- and work for, if need be -- the speedy and safe return of Iran's diplomats.

The safety and immunity of diplomatic envoys is one of mankind's oldest and most venerated traditions. And now Iran will fully understand why.