With the United States bogged down in Iraq, people often forget that America's opening salvo in the war on terror is far from finished.
The situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate as remnants of the Taliban adopt al Qaeda-like tactics in their war against law and order.
The U.S.-backed leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Hamid Karzai and Pervez Musharraf, blame each other for the upsurge of violence in Afghanistan. Suicide attacks, previously unheard of in Afghanistan, have become commonplace; more than 60 have occurred in the past year.
There are currently about 40,000 foreign military troops in the country trying to stem this insurgency. About half of these soldiers are American. Last week, the Pentagon announced that most of the American soldiers would be transferred to NATO command under a British general.
This marks the largest number of American troops placed under foreign command since World War II. The United States was forced to do this in part because other NATO countries refused to bolster the NATO force with their own troops. Excluding the United States, only Britain and Canada have a sizable number of troops in the NATO in Afghanistan.
More than 300 American soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan along with a countless number of Afghan security forces and civilians. In the last few months, these numbers have risen quickly.
Military analysts describe this devolution into chaos as the "Iraqization" of Afghanistan.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has blamed Pakistan for this increase in violence. Karzai says Taliban insurgents are given free sanctuary in Pakistan to train and plan attacks. Karzai is particularly upset with Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf, who struck a peace deal with Taliban fighters living in Western Pakistan in early September. Under this deal, Pakistani security forces leave the Taliban alone as long as the Taliban agrees to expel members of al-Qaeda and to not fight for political control of the area.
Musharraf hailed this deal as a great victory in the fight against terrorism, but Karzai and many Western leaders are less than pleased. They believe Musharraf's compromise increased the number of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and boosted the morale of Taliban insurgents. Moreover, they don't believe Musharaff should be brokering deals with terrorist organizations.
Karzai is also mad about Pakistan's refusal to crack down on madrasas, or religious schools. Karzai says many of these schools are training camps for terrorists rather than places to study the Koran.
Unsurprisingly, Musharraf disputes Karzai's claims. Musharaff says the Afghan government has made him a scapegoat for its own failings. He accuses Karzai of "turning a blind eye, like an ostrich" to problems in Afghanistan.
Additionally, the fact that opium production in Afghanistan has increased by 59 percent in the past years lends credence to Musharraf's claims.
When the U.N. General Assembly met recently, the two quarreling leaders continued to trade insults.
President Bush brought them together for a dinner, but little was accomplished. Before the dinner, the three leaders made a brief media appearance. Like heavyweight boxers before a title bout, Karzai and Musharraf refused to even look each other in the eye.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are both extremely important American allies in the War on Terrorism. In order for the war to be successful and for the Taliban to be completely eliminated in Afghanistan, both countries must stop fighting each other and instead fight terrorism.
Benjamin van der Horst is a College sophomore from Cincinnati. He is the executive director of the nonpartisan political organization CSAmerica and the managing editor of the Emory Political Review.
This column ran in the 10/6/06 issue of the Emory Wheel. For more go to www.emorywheel.com
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