Follow through in Afghanistan

EDITORIAL

Follow through in Afghanistan

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan last week urged the international community not to abandon efforts to reconstruct his country and secure it from the grip of extremists, saying that foreign troops would be needed for at least another 10 years.

He also said the international community had failed to realise the importance of closing down the ''rear bases'' outside the country which supply and provide cover for the Taliban and terrorist groups in Afghanistan. This is obviously a reference to areas of northern Pakistan which border Afghanistan and where extremist philosophies are firmly entrenched.

Mr Karzai is right on both counts. The international community must follow through in Afghanistan, even though it has become clear that this will entail much more effort than was imagined after the spectacularly successful American-led offensive to drive off the Taliban in the early days after the 2001 World Trade Center attacks in New York.

There is no underestimating the turmoil and devastation that the country has gone through since the Soviet invasion in the 1980s, the subsequent rule of the Taliban after the fall of the Soviet-backed government in 1992, and the war for liberation which established Mr Karzai as interim president in 2002 and elected president in 2004.

Rebuilding the country is the relatively easy part, however, provided there is sufficient international goodwill. It is in the matter of securing the country from extremists that the world's resolve is truly being tested. There are at present more than 60,000 troops from 37 nations banded together in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), under the direction of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato).

However, the Taliban are apparently stronger now than at any time since Nato troops established regular patrols. The last two years have seen a marked increase in insurgent violence.

There have been worrying signs that some nations which have provided troops for the ISAF might be wavering. Therefore, the trips to Afghanistan in the latter part of last week by new French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Australia's new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, during which both leaders pledged their continued support to the Nato-led effort, are reassuring.

France had been the subject of speculation as to its commitment in Afghanistan after it withdrew around 200 elite forces last year, until Mr Sarkozy promised the US Congress last month that ''France will remain engaged in Afghanistan as long as it takes, because what's at stake in that country is the future of our values...'' Several other key nations involved in the ISAF effort have in recent days echoed that sentiment, including Australia.

Even with the best of intentions and the firmest of commitments, however, the way forward is perilous. Mr Karzai was no doubt right when he stressed the importance of closing down the insurgents' rear bases in Pakistan, but what has paralysed the international community may be as much a realisation of the enormous difficulties involved in closing down these bases, as a failure to realise the importance of doing so. There is today an acute awareness of the delicate situation in Pakistan. A large push by foreign soldiers inside Pakistan could be enough to destabilise the country to the point of anarchy, leaving control of a sizeable nuclear arsenal in question.

In retrospect, it probably would have been less politically risky to root out the extremists in northern Pakistan, and particularly those allied with al-Qaeda, in the early days after 9/11. Also in retrospect, it is apparent that the handling of the ''war on terror'' has contributed greatly to the destabilisation in the region.

While the mistakes of the past cannot be undone, it is imperative that one is not repeated by the international community _ disengagement from Afghanistan before it is strong enough to stand on its own against extremist elements, as was done after the withdrawal of the Soviets in 1992.