Messy Missions

With Iraq holding centrestage for obvious reasons, most people might have missed noticing the despatch of US-led troops to another part of the world — Afghanistan. Yes, the same Afghanistan over which the United States claimed to have won a comprehensive victory some 18 months ago. That war was meant to rid the world of Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaida terror network. Instead it ended in a regime change, a happier change to be sure, for the people of Afghanistan.
But neither the missing Osama nor the changed goal would stop the cheerleaders from proclaiming victory. Team Bush and its worldwide supporters trumpeted the fall of the Taliban and installation of the Karzai regime as an end in itself, even as the dreaded Al-Qaida struck terror around the world, led no doubt by its still unconquered leader. Worse, since then Afghanistan itself might have sunk into a deeper quagmire, as evident from the re-emergence of warring tribal chiefs and resumed terrorist activity on its border with Pakistan.
Today, with global attention focused on Baghdad, a fresh US-led operation, codenamed ''Valiant Strike'', is underway in southern Afghanistan avowedly to flush out extremists linked to the Al-Qaida.
Significantly, ''Valiant Strike'' is only the latest in a series of such missions undertaken since a new government assumed office in Kabul. In January, the US military launched ''Operation Mongoose'' in a cave complex in the Adi Ghar mountains that killed all of 18 rebels. Mongoose was followed last month by operations ''Eagle Fury'' and ''Viper''. As for ''Valiant Strike'' no prizes for guessing its whys and wherefores. Should the mission succeed even partially in raiding the hideouts of the Al-Qaida, it could be presented as a double victory alongside the fall of Baghdad. The best case scenario for Washington would, of course, be the simultaneous conquest of Osama and Saddam. But to bet on the former could be risky, given Osama''s elusive track record. Saddam, on the other hand, seems destined to fall.
And yet, that doesn''t necessarily answer the question: What after Saddam? According to current estimates, Baghdad will remain under the control of an American general for at least one year, which means the promised democracy is still far away. Meanwhile, the Turks are marching their troops into Kurdistan, the outcome of which could well be another vicious battle of the kind that torments Afghanistan. The world could not prevent this war. The best it can hope for now is that another mess does not follow the triumph of the US military.