Meanwhile, In Afghanistan...

With the election focus on Iraq, a reminder that in the first war, things aren't so hot either-

A recent Central Intelligence Agency assessment found that the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, had been significantly weakened by rising popular frustration with his American-backed government, American officials say.

The assessment found that Mr. Karzai’s government and security forces continued to struggle to exert authority beyond Kabul, said a senior American official who spoke only on the condition of anonymity. The assessment also found that increasing numbers of Afghans viewed Mr. Karzai’s government as corrupt, failing to deliver promised reconstruction and too weak to protect the country from rising Taliban attacks...

...Ronald E. Neumann, the American ambassador in Kabul, said in a recent interview that the United States faced “stark choices” in Afghanistan. Averting failure, he said, would take “multiple years” and “multiple billions.”

“We’re going to have to stay at it,” he said. “Or we’re going to fail and the country will fall apart again.”...

...While that [National Security Council] review has not been completed, officials said it was expected to include a request for additional financing. Over the past year, the Bush administration reduced financing for Afghanistan by 30 percent and proposed the withdrawal of up to 3,000 American troops. At least 143 American and NATO troops have been killed in the Taliban resurgence this year, 55 more than died in all of 2005, and the planned withdrawal was canceled...

This is the war that, maybe even more so than Iraq, that the Republicans want you to forget. After all, they're at least mentioning Iraq when they downplay what is happening there. When was the last time you heard a major Republican leader (let alone the President) bring up Afghanistan, or the Taliban, or bin Laden? You knows, besides when Bill Frist suggesting just letting the Taliban back into the government so we could move on. Months? A year? More? Either way, voters should keep in mind- and sad that the Democrats have only been slight vocal on this- that the incumbent party which is running on its supposed national security credentials (a dubious boast at best) could care less about the war that people actually supported. They launched a justifiable war in one country and gave up when it got boring. They launched a second, mistake of a war in another country for political reasons and are fighting it with the only weapon they have left- spin. They have played games with matters of life and death. There is no scandal greater than this.

Tomorrow- hold them accountable for every life lost and every opportunity missed.

[Related reading:
-AFP: NGOs in Afghanistan fear backlash over NATO's humanitarian role
-Kyodo News: Pakistan says willing to fence border with Afghanistan]