October 11, 2001

(Prime Minister / President)

The U.S. military forces along with the British forces initiated military
attacks on Afghanistan on the night of October 7 Afghan time.

In the letter addressed to the heads of State and Government dated September
17, we condemned the massive terrorist attacks on the United States; we at
the same time expressed our conviction that what is necessary to resolve the
problem is not a rush to military retaliation, but indicting the
perpetrators of the terror crimes and those who harbor them and applying
sanctions against them to bring about their extradition, thus bringing them
to justice with the United Nations at the center and based on the UN Charter
and international law.

Without exhausting every means for indicting and applying sanctions with the
United Nations at the center, a few countries started military attacks on
Afghanistan. We cannot but point out that this will pose a great danger of
creating more victims among those who took no part in the terror crimes, and
also make it all the more difficult to find a reasonable solution.

Harboring hope for ending terrorism and achieving peace among nations, we
once again send your Government a letter, and convey our position and
proposal.

(1)

The military strikes are taking the shape of a retaliatory war. In
Afghanistan, a nongovernmental organization engaged in UN humanitarian aid
was wrongly bombed and some of its employees were killed and injured, and
thus more deaths are being caused among civilians. More and more innocent
civilians are being victimized by the continued and expanded military
action, which cannot be overlooked.

The U.S. government in its letter of October 7 addressed to the UN Security
Council made mention of the possibility of expanding the targeted countries
of its military attacks beyond Afghanistan. This has caused us strong worry
about a possible expansion of the war on a larger scale.

It is also grave that splits and contradictions are growing among
international public opinion which so far has been firmly united on the
elimination of terrorism. A number of governments of Islamic countries are
expressing opposition to the use of arms, and protests are spreading among
Muslims. These splits will without fail give the terrorist forces the golden
opportunity to expand their destructive activities. In this regard also, the
situation is heading in an apprehensive direction.

Worse still, there is no certain prospect for reaching the target of
apprehending the suspects and eliminating terrorism by continuing these
military attacks.

(2)

Who launched the heinous and massive terror attacks on the United States?
The fundamental prerequisite to solve the case is identification of the
perpetrators. In this context, Osama bin Laden's statement in the video
footage broadcast on October 8 was of grave significance, which contained
the following points:

--He expressed his total glorification of the terrorist attacks on the
United States as a punishment by God, not a crime;

--In the face of the fact that he is suspected as the perpetrator by the
world, he made no clarification whatsoever to deny the charges in his
lengthy address;

--He virtually announced further terror attacks on the United States and
other targets.

This is nothing but verification by himself of the serious charges that
Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, which he organized, were involved in the
terrorist attacks on the United States and carried them out.

The Taliban has recognized that the terror attacks on the United States are
a crime, and stated that had the charges on bin Laden become clear it would
hand him over. It is now evident that extradition of bin Laden and his
terrorist group is the Taliban's obligation to the international community.

(3)

Based on these points, we believe what is now necessary is to shift the
course of combating terrorism from military attacks and escalation of war
waged by a handful of countries to sanctions and "justice" under the
responsibility of the whole international community. We seek your
understanding of this significance and appeal to the international community
to this effect. From this position, we call for cessation of the ongoing
military attacks. Only through this course can we rebuild the broadest
international solidarity against terrorism, and proceed to eliminate the
scourge of terrorism by encircling and isolating the forces of terror.

Our proposals are as follows:

First, the United Nations should officially confirm the charges against bin
Laden over the recent terror incident and demand that the Taliban extradite
bin Laden.

Second, if the Taliban refuses his extradition, the United Nations should
apply sanctions as enforcement measures in accordance with Chapter VII of
the UN Charter with full humanitarian consideration for the Afghan people.
"Non-military measures", including economic sanctions, should be first
applied on the basis of Article 41 of the UN Charter. But even after its
full application, if the international community considers that those
measures would be inadequate, it may be possible to take military measures
based on Article 42 of the UN Charter.

Third, as regards bin Laden and other suspects, the whole truth should be
brought to light by fair trial and they should be punished. Considering that
the terrorist attacks were aimed at not only the United States but also the
international community as a whole, setting up of a special international
court under the United Nations should be studied.

All these measures have to be carried out through the united efforts of the
international community with the United Nations at the center and under its
control. For the elimination of international terrorism, it is vital to
create, through isolation of terrorists by the whole international
community, a situation in which there is no place for the terrorists to hide
in the world. There is no organization but the United Nations that can play
a central role and has the authority to carry it out.

We stress our conviction that this is the way to resolve the present
situation based on reason and rational action.

The JCP wholeheartedly calls upon your Government to give this proposal due
consideration and take a positive action in this direction to help arrive at
a solution.


Tetsuzo FUWA
Chairman, Central Committee
Japanese Communist Party
Member, House of Representatives

Kazuo SHII
Chairman, Executive Committee
Japanese Communist Party
Member, House of Representatives