WASHINGTON -- Three years after the Bush administration led a remarkably quick and bold military operation to overthrow the Taliban regime, how are things going in Afghanistan? The short answer is that there has been considerable progress. But that is largely because things were so bad under the Taliban, not because they are good now.
And unfortunately, the current "security-lite" strategy being followed by the United States and its partners in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization does not inspire confidence that Afghanistan will soon do better.
In early November 2001, President George W. Bush promised at the United Nations that "when that regime is gone . . . America will join the world in helping the people of Afghanistan rebuild their country." A year later, in October, he pledged a "full commitment to a future of progress and stability for the Afghan people." However, the U.S. and its allies have fallen short of the president's promises.