Military

DATE=04/19/04

TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP

NAME=AFGHANISTAN WORRIES

NUMBER=6-130345

BY LINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=Washington

EDITOR=Assignments

TELEPHONE=203-4301

CONTENT=

INTRO: Almost obscured by the Iraq situation in newspaper editorials, a number of U-S papers continue to monitor stabilization efforts in Afghanistan. Many are troubled by what they see, as we learn now from V-O-A's ___________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: As President Hamid Karzai celebrated the recent ground-breaking for a new luxury hotel in the capital Kabul, U-S papers were editorializing about a myriad of problems. There is an upsurge in heroin production; rival warlord militias frequently battle each other; the new Afghan army is still not a viable presence; and in the view of many observers the U-S and NATO troops are spread dangerously thin.

Writing under a headline Afghanistan's Descent, The Washington Post expresses disillusionment on several fronts.

VOICE: The fighting in Iraq has kindled hopes of sharing the burden with allies, perhaps by involving NATO. Meanwhile Afghanistan, where NATO assumed peacekeeping . last August, is not progressing well. NATO's European members have failed to contribute sufficient troops to extend the peacekeeping presence much outside the capital, and the resulting power vacuum has been filled by warlords. .Most disturbing, [that] power vacuum has made possible a dramatic resurgence in the opium trade, which now accounts for around two-fifths of the country's economic output. . the truth is that much of the country appears to be descending into the instability of its past.

TEXT: Taking a more optimistic view, Nebraska's Omaha World Herald, with the benefit of that city's University of Nebraska Afghan Studies Center, observes:

VOICE: . the truth is that a strong case can be made for optimism -- guarded, but optimism nonetheless. Afghans take particular pride, for example, that their leaders were able to move beyond their factional differences and agree on a national constitution last year. That was one of the points underscored to Tom Gouttierre, director of the . Afghanistan Studies . Center . during a recent visit to Kabul. It's a major accomplishment to get these disparate linguistic and ethnic groups together. A hopeless cause? No. Afghanistan now has tremendous opportunities for advancement. Progress is possible as long as steadfastness is shown by the Afghan people and the international community .

TEXT: The viewpoint of Nebraska's Omaha World Herald.

In nearby Ohio, however, the view is not nearly as sanguine, according to this editorial in The Columbus Dispatch.

VOICE: Alarms are being sounded about the need for more U-S troops in Iraq, but what about the undermanned forces of the U-S-led coalition in Afghanistan? . In Afghanistan, the coalition force of 13 thousand 500 troops is one-tenth the size of the force in Iraq. That's an inadequate number to pacify Afghanistan. American troops spend most of their time pursuing remnants of al-Qaida and the Taleban .while coalition partners' troops patrol . in and around Kabul .

.rival militias continue to control vast areas and Afghan farmers are returning to their old cash crop, poppies for opium production. If the [U-S] and its allies fail to invest whatever forces and aid [are] needed to allow for safe and fair elections, gains made by the ouster of the Taleban . will be lost. Americans should continue to wonder why President Bush and his advisers were fixated on Iraq . in the aftermath of 9/11 and thus diverted attention from Afghanistan.

TEXT: Lastly, from upstate New York, The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle complains:

VOICE: Not one question at [the president's] new conference focused on the worsening situation in Afghanistan, where lawless warlords now overshadow a marginalized president .and the heroin trade is again booming. The inattention is predictable. Afghanistan is yesterday's news, or more accurately, the news of November 2001, when U-S troops toppled the repressive Taleban . But what's happening in Afghanistan now, the flowing back of social and political chaos, could very well be repeated in Iraq unless the international community not only establishes order but maintains a presence over time to support the new government.

TEXT: That assessment from The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle completes this sampling of editorial concern about the situation in Afghanistan.

NEB/ANG/RH