With international attention focused on Iraq, it is easy to forget the other front in the fight against terrorism. A coalition of forces, acting under United Nations authorization, has waged war against Islamic extremists in Afghanistan for nearly four years. That battle has been overshadowed by the controversy and difficulties surrounding the invasion of Iraq. Yet, in the past few months, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated and the Taliban, once driven from power, appear to have regained strength. The world must not forget Afghanistan: Efforts to restore peace there must be redoubled.
Weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, the international community mounted an invasion of Afghanistan, a nation whose government had provided sanctuary for Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida terrorist network. It did not take long for the international coalition to drive the Taliban, radical Islamists who ruled the country, from power. After considerable negotiation among the various factions within Afghanistan, and considerable prodding by the governments that fought the war, a new government was installed in Kabul.
There was little to unite the factions of the new government other than a desire to be rid of the Taliban and to reclaim the power they had lost. Mr. Hamid Karzai was named president, but his government's power did not extend much beyond Kabul, the capital. Elsewhere in the country, warlords reasserted the authority they once enjoyed.