News From the Front in That Other War
Comes the spring in the Hindu Kush, and a young man's thoughts turn to ... the letting of blood. Sectarian killing after the snowmelt is a time-honored tradition in the high mountain fastnesses of Afghanistan, but this year, as President Bush noted just a few days ago, the carnage may be even worse than usual. "The snow is going to melt," the president said, "... and when it does, we can expect fierce fighting to continue." That would be fighting primarily in the form of vicious assaults and-something, until just recently, previously unheard of in Afghanistan-suicide-bomb attacks by Taliban and al Qaeda killers on ordinary Afghans.
In the event you happened to exceed your quotient for murder and mayhem while keeping tabs on the downward spiral of violence in Iraq, here's a news flash: Things aren't going real well in America's other war either, and haven't been for quite some time now. In fact, as Bush acknowledged, last year was "the most violent year in Afghanistan since the liberation of the country" by American forces in 2001. It seems almost an eternity ago. Who can forget the sense of rightness and vindication as shaggy U.S. Special Forces soldiers mounted sturdy Afghan steeds and chased black-turbaned Taliban fanatics across high desert into oblivion and defeat? It was the first military action of the new century, and, by God, if it didn't happen on horseback! After the shock of the September 11 attacks, the quick rout of the Taliban, who had given succor and safe haven to Osama bin Laden and his evil adherents, was a thing of beauty, and it seemed only a matter of time, at the time, as American soldiers tracked bin Laden to a far corner of Afghanistan, before the master miscreant would be caught and brought to justice. That does seem like an eternity ago, doesn't it?
Many years from now, Americans may well still wonder-and history may be at an utter loss to explain-how the early promise of Afghanistan was eventually snuffed by the grim specter of Iraq and how a noble effort to make the terrorists pay instead simply wound up making more of them.
This story appears in the February 26, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
advertisement
