NEW DELHI -- Violence-extolling Islamists target the United States, Israel and India as their principal enemies. Yet these three democracies are no more secure against terrorism today than before U.S. President George W. Bush launched his global war on terror. In fact, terror at home compelled Ariel Sharon to cut short the first-ever visit by an Israeli prime minister to India, without spending the highly symbolic 9/11 anniversary with his Indian hosts as he had planned.
The second anniversary of 9/11 is a reminder about how far the war on terror still is from achieving its key objectives. Despite the arrest of several key al-Qaeda leaders and the ouster of the thuggish Taliban from power in Kabul, the scourge of Islamic terrorism has spread to more states.
The Taliban and al-Qaeda, after being on the run, are beginning to regroup in Afghanistan with the help of new volunteers from Pakistan. Critical to the revival strategy of the Taliban and al-Qaeda are the sanctuaries and support they enjoy within Pakistan, where a military dictatorship propped up by U.S. aid has neither succeeded in denying terrorists safe havens in the tribal areas of the east nor dismantled its state-run terrorist infrastructure against India.