KABUL — was celebrated around the world as a victory for justice, but many people cautioned that it would not end terrorist attacks or ease suffering of those who lost loved ones in bombings by al-Qaeda-linked militants.
Chairul Akbar, secretary general of the anti-terrorism agency in Indonesia — the world’s most populous Muslim nation and a frequent al-Qaeda target — expressed jubilation about the news. Attacks blamed on al-Qaeda- linked militants have killed more than 260 people in Indonesia, many of them foreign tourists.
“We welcome the death of one of the world’s most dangerous men and highly appreciate the United States’ help in crushing this global enemy,” he said. “He couldn’t be allowed to live. He helped spread a dangerous ideology all over the world, including in Indonesia.”
Said Agil Siradj, chairman of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, said bin Laden’s death will help restore the image of Islam as one of people, not violence and radicalism.
“But I don’t think terrorism will stop with his death,” Saradj said. “As long as there is oppression and injustice against Muslims in Palestine, it will continue.”
Brian Deegan, a lawyer from the southern Australian city of Adelaide who lost his 21-year-old son Josh in al-Qaeda-linked bombings on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali in 2002, said he felt a “cold shiver” when learning about bin Laden’s death on a car radio.
“I don’t gain any satisfaction in his death. Nothing will bring Josh back to me,” Deegan said. “But as for my remaining three children, I gain a sense of some security — I feel better for the future for my remaining three children.” Deegan said he believes that most Australians will share his sense of relief, he said.
“It does show that persons who exact horrific crimes on others on such a mass scale, even in this enormous world of ours, they can run and they can hide, but eventually they will be found,” Deegan said.
In Afghanistan, officials who have lived most intimately with the fight against terrorism expressed relief that the long wait for Osama bin Laden’s killing was over at last.
“We thought this would never end, but finally, there is a result,” said Mohammad Umer Daudzai, the former chief of staff to President Hamid Karzai who is Afghanistan’s incoming ambassador to Pakistan.
“It’s wonderful. It’s great news,” said Mahmoud Karzai, the Afghan president’s brother. “He’s been one of the key enemies of humanity, civilization, and it’s really been a major problem for the human race.”
But two other reactions followed quickly in Afghanistan: shock about reports that bin Laden had been living in a mansion in Abbottabad, north of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, and resignation that violence was likely to continue.
“I was thinking he died of natural causes or he was killed somewhere in a remote area,” said Mahmoud Karzai, who was watching news reports of the death from his Kabul home.
“This may not put an end to violence,” Daudzai said from Islamabad. “Al-Qaeda has many splinter groups. He was the founder but not the manager.”
The Washington Post contributed to this report.
