A Dearth of Troops

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While the U.S. and its allies have dithered for months over whether to deploy more troops outside Kabul, Afghanistan's countless warlords have established a reign of terror in the nation's small towns and rural areas. At the same time, a recrudescent Taliban, aided by its al-Qaeda allies, has stepped up attacks on U.S. troops and reconstruction efforts in southern and eastern regions of the country, assassinating 13 aid workers since May. The latest, a French U.N. employee, was shot in the face and killed early last week by suspected Taliban gunmen in the southern town of Ghazni.

Although NATO has finally decided to send additional soldiers to establish what it calls "islands" of stability outside the capital, its 19 member nations have managed to scrape together only 200 extra troops for the task — all from Norway. Afghan security officials expected 3,000. Of the troops already in Afghanistan — from Canada, Britain, Germany and many other countries — few can be spared from their current duties. Roughly 8,500 U.S. soldiers are busy hunting down the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and some 5,300 NATO troops are required for security in Kabul. That is because 30,000 unruly, battle-hardened and under-paid Northern Alliance soldiers remain in the city, and their commanders, who despise Afghan President Hamid Karzai, have ignored the allies' polite requests that they leave. Manpower is not the only problem. NATO, for all its wealth and might, has only three working helicopters at its disposal in Afghanistan. And the U.N. and other aid agencies, citing security concerns, have suspended operations in the impoverished south and east. "If we fail" to restore civil order in the country, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson told reporters at the NATO parliamentary assembly this month, "we will find Afghanistan on all of our doorsteps." Unfortunately, dire warnings alone will not win the Afghan peace.