Major battles are looming this spring in Afghanistan

Last Sunday, NATO-led troops dropped leaflets on a southern Afghan town overrun by Taliban militants, warning them to leave after their leader, Mullah Gahfour, was killed in a targeted airstrike.
By midweek, however, the Taliban fighters were still in control of Musa Qala, which they had captured last week. There also were disturbing signs that such militancy is beginning to spread.
On Wednesday, two bomb attacks killed five people in the southern province of Kandahar.
And while NATO officials insist there is no reason to rush to take back Musa Qala, a dispatch from Graeme Smith of the Toronto Globe and Mail should be cause for concern.
In an story headlined "Taliban prepare for new offensive," Smith quoted NATO officials as saying that the Taliban fighters' heavy occupation of parts of Helmand province add to indications that major battles are looming in that country as soon as spring arrives.
That isn't good news for the democratically elected government of President Hamid Karzai, nor is it good news for the United States.
Critics of President Bush's decision to make Iraq the front in the global war on terrorism have long warned that the redeployment of American troops from Afghanistan to Iraq was a major mistake.
After the U.S.-led coalition successfully ousted the Taliban from power in Afghanistan and uprooted Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida fighters, there was unfinished business. Bin Laden, the world's leading terrorist whose Al-Qaida terror organization was responsible for the 9/11 attack on America's mainland, escaped capture and fled with members of his inner circle to the mountains along the border with Pakistan.
He remains at large and continues to direct terrorist activities around the world.
Saddam Hussein
Bush was urged to dedicate American troops to the search for bin Laden, but the president decided that invading Iraq and ousting Saddam Hussein was more important.
Thus, four years later, the United States is embroiled in a civil war that has Shiites and Sunnis killing each other by the hundreds, is spending billions of dollars on Bush's war, and has lost more than 3,000 soldiers.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan is being threatened by Taliban militants and tribal chieftains.
With President Karzai's government under the gun, NATO has sent in forces to assist in stopping the spread of the militancy.
Adding to the danger is the fact that a bloodthirsty Taliban leader, Mullah Dadullah, has been empowered by the death of Mullah Akhtar Usmani, described as a moderate voice on the Taliban's leadership council.
"Now, Dadullah controls 75 percent of the fighters in this region," an Afghan government official told the Globe and Mail. "This year will be more violent than ever before."
Such violence, if not contained quickly, will spread like wildfire -- especially with the Taliban being supported by bin Laden and al-Qaida.
The invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11 was justified because the Taliban government had not only provided bin Laden with a safe haven, but had permitted the establishment of al-Qaida training camps for terrorists.
But with the United States now in a quagmire in Iraq, and with American forces stretched thin, the response to the resurgence of the Taliban may not be adequate.
That would be disastrous for not only for the Karzai government, but for the region.