Cheney In The War Zone

By Aryn Baker / Kabul

A suicide bomber outside the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan on Feb. 27 killed about two dozen people--and underscored the mission of Dick Cheney, who had arrived less than 24 hours earlier to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The Vice President had just come from Pakistan, where he urged President Pervez Musharraf to crack down on the activities of the Taliban--which claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was timed to Cheney's visit--and al-Qaeda.

U.S. National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell believes al-Qaeda is regaining a foothold in the border area of Waziristan. He told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Feb. 27 that "to the best of our knowledge, the senior leadership, No. 1 and No. 2, are there, and they are attempting to re-establish and rebuild." Tasneem Aslam, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, says Pakistan is policing the region with 80,000 troops, some 800 of whom have died in skirmishes with militants. "We are doing our utmost to stop the cross-border activity," Aslam says. "What are the Afghans doing to combat this problem? Or the U.S.?"

Musharraf is in a bind. Even if he doubled the number of troops on the border, says a Western diplomat in Pakistan, it would probably just exacerbate regional violence by fueling antigovernment sentiment. "The only way you are going to solve the problem of militancy in the tribal areas is through a massive influx of development," he says. "And even then, we are talking 10 to 15 years." That's a grim analysis, given the claim of senior Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah that he will soon be able to field some 10,000 soldiers, including 2,000 suicide bombers. While few believe the Taliban has that kind of strength, it's still a worrying indication that the fighting will get worse this spring.