Word: talibans
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...fighting terror," President George W. Bush said in January's State of the Union address. But that optimistic picture obscures the depths of the country's woes. In interviews with Afghans, diplomats and military commanders across the country, TIME has found that while Afghans have been freed from the Taliban's depraved strictures, their daily lives remain blighted by violence and fear. Because of the paltry number of foreign peacekeepers--about 20,000, in contrast to 130,000 troops in Iraq--and Karzai's inability to extend his grip outside Kabul, most of Afghanistan is under the sway of truculent...
...Karzai and for the Bush Administration, there is no time to waste. Two years have passed since several hundred U.S. ground troops and 15,000 Northern Alliance fighters ousted the Taliban in retaliation for the Sept. 11 attacks, ending the mullahs' oppressive rule and destroying the sanctuary from which Osama bin Laden directed his murderous minions. Having scored a blockbuster opening victory in its war on terrorism, the Bush Administration committed itself to winning the peace--pledging billions of dollars in aid, deploying 11,000 troops to hunt for remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and pinning its credibility...
...another military showdown is looming. U.S. military officials believe that Taliban fighters are preparing to launch an offensive against the U.S. and its Afghan allies this spring. "As the weather gets better and as people are better able to travel in the rougher terrain, we expect an increase in violence," says General Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A senior U.S. military official told TIME that U.S. forces will soon mount a spring offensive of their own, in the tribal areas along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The goal is to flush out bin Laden from...
...intensifying at a time when the Administration is struggling to pull off its other major goal in Afghanistan: the holding of the country's first free elections, scheduled for June. So far, the U.N. has managed to register just 9% of the country's 10.5 million eligible voters. Taliban rebels have threatened to kill U.N.-sponsored election teams and burn down schools and mosques where Afghans are signing up to vote. Karzai said last week that the elections may be postponed because of lagging voter registration. Despite the Bush Administration's desire to trumpet the birth of Afghan democracy...
...doesn't yet exist. Only now are U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan starting to make up for lost time. The U.S. recently moved 40-soldier platoons into villages along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where they live among the locals and glad-hand tribal leaders in exchange for intelligence on the Taliban and al-Qaeda...