Half a year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, President George W. Bush's war on terrorism appears to be entering a more complex and difficult phase. U.S. troops have mounted a major ground offensive in Afghanistan, while a special forces team is helping fight Muslim militants in the Philippines. Mr. Bush has also been taking his antiterror campaign to Yemen and the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Moreover, he is weighing a future military option against Iraq.

What is needed now, however, is not a reckless rush to widen the war but a concerted effort to rebuild Afghanistan. A cool-headed review of military strategy is in order. In the U.S. Congress, a few Democratic leaders have criticized Mr. Bush's handling of the war against terrorism. "I think the jury's still out about future success," said Senate majority leader Thomas Daschle. "I think there is expansion at least without a clear direction."

The military operation in Afghanistan was dramatically successful in its early stages. The bombing campaign, launched in October, annihilated the Taliban regime by December, leading to the establishment of an interim administration headed by Mr. Hamid Karzai. But the manhunt for Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 massacre, has proved futile. Also at large is Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban's supreme leader.

Earlier this month, fierce fighting erupted in the icy mountains of Paktia Province in eastern Afghanistan, with U.S.-led troops meeting tough resistance from Taliban and al-Qaeda holdouts. The coalition forces, mostly Americans, suffered their heaviest casualties of the war: nine soldiers dead and about 40 others wounded.

U.S. forces have used an array of high-tech aerial weapons, including cave-busting bombs, in Afghanistan. The bombing attacks were thought, incorrectly, to have eradicated al-Qaeda and Taliban bases and hide-outs in the country. In the earlier stages of the war, anti-Taliban fighters were said to have borne the brunt of ground fighting with the help of U.S. special forces. That approach, however, left pockets of enemy forces intact and allowed them to regroup.

So, at the beginning of this month, a six-country coalition of about 2,000 troops, including about 1,000 U.S. special forces soldiers, mounted a cleanup operation, along with allied Afghan troops, in the mountainous Galdez region of Paktia Province. The offensive, however, met unexpectedly heavy resistance, resulting in considerable damage to the allied forces.

It is true that stability has returned to the capital of Kabul, but elsewhere in the country fighting continues among warlords. The rival factions that once made up the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance have refused to disarm. However, President Bush's chief concern appears to lie elsewhere, in a wider military campaign to stamp out al-Qaeda's global network. Security in Afghanistan, he seems to believe, should be left in the hands of the British-led 5,000-member International Security Assistance Force.

In the Philippines, meanwhile, about 600 U.S. troops, including a 160-strong special forces unit, are training local soldiers to wipe out Abu Sayyaf, an al-Qaeda-linked rebel group. Another 600 troops are destined for Yemen, which is suspected of harboring al-Qaeda terrorists. What is more, a U.S. contingent is ready to deploy in Georgia, where some 1,000 al-Qaeda members are reportedly taking shelter as refugees from neighboring Chechnya.

America's escalating war on terrorism is raising concerns around the world. Antiterrorism remains an international goal, but the international coalition against terrorism is not monolithic. Russia, for one, is in a delicate position, with President Vladimir Putin supporting U.S. deployment in Georgia in spite of objections from the Foreign Ministry and the military.

The possibility is that a widening war front, combined with a continuing campaign in Afghanistan, might inject new elements of complexity into the military calculus. President Bush could learn a lesson from his father. Former President George Bush, recalls his former defense secretary, Mr. Lawrence Eagleburger, first ordered his military staff to study the feasibility of any military operation before proceeding.

The latest military developments in Afghanistan evoke the memories of the Soviet experience in the 1980s. Of course the situation now is essentially different from what it was then, yet there is a nagging sense that American troops could get bogged down there for a long time. Internal security and national reconstruction are inseparable. A balanced pursuit of both goals is essential for establishing a lasting peace in Afghanistan. A hasty attempt at military success could hold back efforts at nation-building.