Karzai sworn in as president of Afghanistan amid tension

By any standard, Tuesday's swearing in of the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan was a moment for the history books. As President Hamid Karzai, who scored a landslide victory in a relatively trouble-free national election Oct. 9, noted, "We have now left a hard and dark past behind us and today we are opening a new chapter in our history in a spirit of friendship with the international community."
The presence of Vice President Dick Cheney, the highest-ranking American official to visit Afghanistan since the fall of the dictatorial Taliban regime in 2001, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld were meant to not only reaffirm the Bush administration's support of Karzai, but to send a clear message to the world that the war on global terrorism involves more than just military might.
Indeed, the transition in Afghanistan from iron-fisted rule to democracy is being used as a political primer for the people of Iraq who will have a chance to participate in elections in January.
President Bush, along with the leaders of the interim Iraqi government, have made it clear that the continuing attacks by insurgents against coalition forces and Iraqi police units in Baghdad and other cities will not derail the election.
But the Monday night battle near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border that left 12 dead, the assault Monday of the heavily guarded U.S. consulate in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, and the daily death and destruction in Iraq make it clear that the road to democracy in that part of the world will not be easy to navigate.
And despite President Karzai's optimism, the reality the Bush administration, in particular, must face is that the enemies of freedom will not be defeated quickly.
Osama bin Laden
Why? Because the failure of the United States and its allies to capture or kill the world's leading terrorist has given Osama bin Laden an invincibility that energizes members of Al-Qaida, the global terror organization responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on America's mainland that claimed more than 3,000 lives.
What is most troubling is the fact that bin Laden's whereabouts remain a mystery.
"He's alive, but more than that, where he is, no, it'll be just a guess and it won't have much basis," Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf told the Washington Post recently. And when asked whether the trail had gone cold, Musharraf replied, "Yes, if you mean we don't know, from that point of view, we don't know where he is."
Such an admission cannot be shrugged off because Pakistan is on the frontlines of the war against Al-Qaida terrorists, including bin Laden, who fled into the mountains separating Afghanistan and Pakistan when the U.S.-led coalition invaded Afghanistan and ousted the Taliban regime. American special forces and Pakistani military have launched numerous attacks on suspected hideouts, but bin Laden and his top lieutenant have eluded capture.
Since the 9/11 attacks, we have been consistent in our contention that the United States and its allies cannot claim substantial progress in the war on global terrorism until bin Laden and members of his inner circle are killed or captured. That is why we opposed President Bush's invasion of Iraq, It required the reassignment of American troops from Afghanistan.
Thus, with only 18,000 soldiers remaining in the country, Al-Qaida operatives have not only been able to hide out in the mountains, but have been conducting bloody incursions in parts of Afghanistan. In addition, provincial chieftains opposed to the U.S.-backed Karzai government have been joining forces with the terrorists.
Victory in the war on global terrorism will be elusive so long as bin Laden is alive and free.