The other war: Iraq gets most of the headlines, but the war in Afghanistan may prove to be more important in the fight against terrorism. And while it has made great strides in the last six years, Afghanistan is again struggling with a resurgent Taliban.

• Author: Bearak, Barry
• Position: INTERNATIONAL

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CRITICAL THINKING

Ask students why they think the U.S., with the most powerful military in the world, and its allies, have not been able to totally subdue the Taliban.

Did the allies' quick victory over the Taliban in 2001 give rise to overconfidence? What argument might be made that the U.S. did not fully understand either the true nature of the Taliban or the geographic perils of the country. (Note the rugged border with Pakistan through which the Taliban returned] Next, make note of the more than 400 Taliban attacks on schools and schoolchildren. Why would the Taliban direct so much energy against schools?

Students should understand that strict Islamists Like the Taliban believe education should be Limited to the study of the Koran. Modern ideas are to be shunned. (Note also that the Taliban oppose girls' education as against their interpretation of Islam.]

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Why do you think the U.S. and its NATO allies have been unable to capture Osama bin Laden?

If General James Jones is correct--that Afghanistan is more the symbolic epicenter of terrorism than

Iraq--should the U.S. transfer some of its troops now stationed in Iraq back to duty in Afghanistan?

FAST FACT

Taliban in the Pashto Language means "students" or "seekers of knowledge." Most Taliban were educated in Islamic schools in Pakistan.

Much of the news from Afghanistan in recent months has been grim: Suicide attacks and roadside bombings are up dramatically, and farmers are growing record crops of poppies that will be processed into opium and heroin. Young girls have been shot leaving school as part of a brutal campaign of intimidation that has shut down almost 100 schools, and 107 American troops have been killed so far in 2007.

While the war in Iraq gets most of America's attention, the situation in Afghanistan--where 26,000 U.S. troops are fighting what many say is the real epicenter of the war on terrorism--is deteriorating.

It's been six years since a U.S.-led coalition toppled the Taliban, the radical Muslim regime that controlled Afghanistan. The Taliban had given sanctuary to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and its refusal to hand him over after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America prompted the U.S. and its allies to invade in November 2001. Bin Laden has still not been captured, but within a month the Taliban was defeated, and U.S. troops have remained to help stabilize the country. There are now also 35,000 NATO troops there.

CROSSROADS OF ASIA

Led by the country's first democratically elected President, Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan has seen significant improvements in health care, education, and the economy, as well as in the quality of life in cities. It has also adopted a new constitution and elected a parliament.

But in the last year, there have been a number of signs that Afghanistan is losing ground. When President Karzai, on a recent trip to the U.S., said that security in Afghanistan had "definitely deteriorated," a former national security official called it "a very diplomatic understatement."

Located in a strategic spot between Pakistan, Iran, and the remnants of the former Soviet Union, Afghanistan has been invaded and fought over, but never really conquered, for centuries. Its recent decades of turmoil (see timeline, p. 21) began in 1979, when the Soviet Union occupied the country for 10 years, sparking a fierce...