I know for a fact that the Italian government refused extradition for mafia dons in the '60s and '70s. I did a detailed report on the subject. What they do now may or may not be different. I cannot recall a single instance of an high profile mafia boss being extradited from there.
Thus the result is exactly the same.
The government of Afghanistan embraced Osama Bin Laden and shielded him.
The government of Afghanistan basically did the very same thing the Italians did - without the added insult of being an ally.
Dealing with rogue states, without a declaration of war, goes back to Thomas Jefferson. If there must be a name, that doctrine should be named after the first one of the founding fathers to use it.
As I said previously, the nation of Afghanistan did nothing to us. They would not turn Osama over - that was their involvement. They probably could not have found him if they wanted to.
If they are a rogue state for that reason, then we ought to be kicking the crap out of many nations.
And my point is not about whether we declared war or not. My point is that America does not start wars - A very straightforward statement - and that the Bush Doctrine changed that. I am not comfortable with that outcome.
There are two significant differences between Italy and Afghanistan. First, there were enough honest Italians in their government that patience proved to be the wise course. They didn’t like organized crime and proved willing to combat it.
More than that, the Mafia did not commit acts of war against The United States. Bombing an embassy is an act of war. Afghanistan was protecting the head of an organization that attacks nations who oppose it. Since Bin Laden and the Taliban are ideological clones, their disavowal of responsibility means nothing. It’s plausible deniability, and it isn’t very plausible.
Jefferson and Madison didn’t buy it in the Barbary Wars, which were both undeclared. Think of privateering, which is not direct action by government, but is permission for a private entity to commit acts which would be casus belli if done in France’s name. Adams didn’t buy it, either, and we had an undeclared naval war with France.
That’s three of the founders, and George Washington supppressed the Whiskey Rebellion with federal force in an act of questionable constitutionality. The rebels weren’t renouncing the United States, they were retaliating against a tax that was wrongly imposed and ultimately repealed. Although shooting at the government is generally considered an act of rebellion, the so-called rebels thought it was the only way to answer a tax that attacked their way of life for the benefit of others. Washington responded with an army under federal control.