Recent news regarding the United States' military action in the Middle East has been positive, with reports of Taliban retreats and northern alliance gains. Penn State students, however, have varying opinions about the war.

Most students seemed to agree that capturing or killing alleged terrorism ringleader Osama bin Laden is the most important objective in Afghanistan.

"It's necessary to find bin Laden," said Chad Wallaesa (senior-industrial health and safety). Wallaesa said persecuting bin Laden is the only way to show terrorists that the United States will not tolerate attacks on its citizens.

Joe Carnicella (senior-biochemistry) agrees with Wallaesa.

"Capturing bin Laden is the most important thing," Carnicella said.

Azra Ali (freshman-film and video) also said finding bin Laden is important to show U.S. intolerance of terrorism.

"The United States is making a stronger point by targeting bin Laden," Ali said.

Despite the fact that students stressed finding bin Laden as key, they mostly agreed that finding bin Laden and exclusively targeting Afghanistan will not solve the terrorism problem.

"There are more underlying problems that will need to be addressed," Wallaesa said.

Ali stressed there are many terrorist groups in addition to al-Qaida. It is possible that other groups could strike out against the United States, she added.

Students do have mixed feelings about when the war could come to an end. They believe it will depend on several different factors.

Wallaesa believes the war will last for a few more months before the United States is successful. The length of the war will depend on where al-Qaida and the Taliban retreat to and hide in Afghanistan, Wallaesa said.

Morgan Powell (sophomore-biotechnology) is not sure how much longer the war will last, but she believes it will go on for "quite a while longer."

"The war will go on until the United States feels they've accomplished their goal," Powell said.

Ali was also unsure of how long the war on terrorism will last.

"It's hard to say how long the war will go on. There are a lot of terrorist groups," Ali said.

Students also gave a variety of opinions on what the United States should do after the Taliban is defeated in Afghanistan and after bin Laden is captured or killed.

Powell believes the war should not be going on "at all."

"There's no reason to go farther than taking the Taliban and Osama bin Laden," Powell said.

Chad Wallaesa said the United States should do "whatever is necessary" to win the war on terrorism. This would include moving on to other areas to fight, Wallaesa added.

Ali believes fighting in other areas and targeting other terrorist groups is necessary because of the large number of terrorist groups in various parts of the world.