The other war: Afghanistan was the first battlefield in the war on terror. Is its struggle to rebuild suffering from neglect now that Iraq is in the spotlight?

Just off a busy street in Kabul stands the skeleton of a two story shoe factory with mounds of rubbish piled outside. Like so many bombed-out buildings in Afghanistan's capital, it is now home to hundreds of displaced people who have nowhere else to go.

Three hundred people have camped out here for 18 months, but the owner recently returned from abroad and is demanding they leave. "He wants to repair the building and sell it," says Kher Mohammad, who has been living in a room on the second floor with his wife and five children. "We don't know what will happen to us."

Their story is not unique, and it illustrates one of the paradoxes involved in rebuilding a country as devastated as Afghanistan: With the country finally at peace (for the most part), reconstruction is tinder way, but for some people, things may get worse before they get better.

It has been two years since the U.S. and its allies launched the war on terror with an offensive in Afghanistan. That attack ousted the repressive Taliban regime, which had ruled for five years with a brutally strict version of Islam. At that time, the U.S. and its allies promised they would rebuild Afghanistan.

TWO DECADES OF WAR

Now, as the U.S. focuses on rebuilding Iraq, the American experience in Afghanistan is getting renewed scrutiny "There's been so much criticism of the U.S.'s short attention span," says Fiona Hill, a central Asia expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "I think there really is a realization in the Bush administration that Afghanistan has got to be kept in the spotlight or it will augur very badly for U.S. operations in Iraq."

But Afghanistan has a very different history than Iraq, and 24 years of invasion, civil war and brutal oppression have left much of the country in ruins. The Soviet Union invaded in 1979 and fought a 10-year war against Afghan guerrillas known as mujahideen. Soviet bombing forced more than 3 million people to flee their homes and the country. The U.S. saw the mujahideen as allies against the Soviet Union, its Cold War enemy, and backed them with $2 billion in weapons, supplies and cash.

When the Soviets withdrew in defeat in 1989, the U.S. drastically cut its involvement. The result: Afghanistan descended into civil war, as different factions battled for power. Much of Kabul was destroyed, and parts of the country became utterly lawless. In 1996, the Taliban took power and provided a safe haven for terrorist groups like AI Qaeda.

In retaliation for the September 11 attacks, the U.S. launched strikes against Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan in October 2001, followed by a quick ground campaign that toppled the repressive regime. In December 2001, Hamid Karzai became the country's interim President. The task of reconstruction is enormous: Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani says it will take years and cost $30 billion. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans remain refugees or displaced. Schools, roads, bridges, hospitals, offices and thousands of houses must be rebuilt.

The world drastically underestimated the cost. In January 2002, more than a dozen countries pledged to give Afghanistan $5 billion over five years, a figure now considered inadequate. Only $192 million--less than 4 percent of what was promised--had actually been spent on projects as of May 2003, according to CARE and New York University's Center on International Cooperation.

"This is a tragic situation in the sense that Afghanistan offers real potential," says Robert Perito, an expert on the region at the U.S. Institute of Peace, a Washington think tank. President Karzai has extended the government's control out from the capital, Perito notes. And while the refugees began returning home (about 2.5 million so far, says Filippo Grandi, head of the UN refugee agency in Kabul) without much international assistance, people are rebuilding and starting small businesses on their own, and a lot of money is coming in from Afghans living abroad.

NEW CONSTITUTION

Progress is also being made on at new constitution, which, it is hoped, will combine the country's deep-rooted Islamic traditions with its aspirations for democracy, including rights for women, whose freedomns were so restricted under the Taliban. A loya jirga, which is a traditional grand assembly of Afghan leaders, is scheduled to convene in Kabul to debate and approve a final version in December.

Concern remains, however, that the world isn't doing enough to make Afghanistan safe. The U.S. has about 9,000 troops in Afghanistan (compared with 122,000 in Iraq). Many of the warlords and militias who fought in the wars are still armed, and parts of the country remain beyond the control of Karzai's government. And the Taliban, pushed out of power but never fully defeated, have regrouped and started fighting again in the south.

The U.S. has already learned the hard way the consequences of letting Afghanistan fall apart. Says Barrnett Rubin of the Center on International Cooperation: "Failure by the U.S. and other major states to respond will doom Afghanistan, the region and the world to a repetition of the anarchy that gave birth to the Taliban and refuge to Al Qaeda."

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

* What do you think are the pros and cons of continuing the U.S. presence in Afghanistan?

* Did the U.S. make a mistake in funding the mujahideen in the 1980s?

* Why do you think the U.S. cut its involvement in Afghanistan after the Soviets left in 1989?

TEACHING OBJECTIVES

To help students understand the conflict in Afghanistan, specifically why the U.S. got involved there and why it is helping to rebuild the war-shattered country.

CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

BEFORE READING: Tell students that years ago, seasoned journalists would often caution young colleagues not to get involved in "Afghanistanism." The term referred to anything remote or of little consequence to average Americans.

SHRUNKEN WORLD: Although the poor, barren, isolated country of Afghanistan is some 9,000 miles from the United States, Americans are deeply involved in "Afghanistanism." Remind students that Afghanistan was the base of Al Qaeda, the terrorist group that attacked the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, and that nearly 80 American troops have died there since the U.S. invasion in late 2001. Use this example to discuss how the world has shrunk, and how events in distant lands affect ordinary Americans.

$2 BILLION FROM THE U.S.: The article notes that the U.S. gave some $2 billion in weapons, supplies and cash to the mujahideen who fought the Soviets. TeI1 students that Osama bin Laden, leader of the Al Qaeda terrorists that attacked the U.S. on September 11, was one of the mujahideen leaders on the receiving end of that American aid.

DEBATE: Split the class into two groups. Ask one side to defend this statement: "Americans should not be expected to shoulder the burden for rebuilding Afghanistan; U.S. tax dollars should go to solving the problems of Americans."

Ask the other side to defend this statement: "Americans must take the lead in rebuilding Afghanistan in order to prevent the country from once again becoming a terrorist breeding ground."

WRITING: Have students turn to page 9 and read the list of rebuilding projects: schools, roads, bridges, hospitals, offices and homes. Have them list these six in their order of priority--number 1 being in need of immediate attention, and so on. Next to each entry students should write two or three sentences explaining why each type of structure is in need of immediate or less immediate attention.

Upfront QUIZ 1

DIRECTIONS: Circle the letter next to the correct answer..

1. In Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, bombed-out buildings have become a refuge for

a American soldiers.

b former terrorists.

c homeless people.

d escaped criminals.

2. What is the name of the Islamic group that ruled Afghanistan until the U.S. invasion in 2001?

a Al Qaeda.

b the Taliban.

c the Party of God.

d Hamas.

3. In 1979, and for 10 years thereafter, Afghans known as mujahideen fought a guerrilla war against invaders from

a Pakistan.

b Iran.

c China.

d the Soviet Union.

4. What was the U.S. reaction to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan? The U.S.

a remained neutral.

b condemned the invasion but stayed away.

c sent money and weapons to the Afghans.

d sent combat troops to fight with the Afghans.

5. What was the situation in Afghanistan after the invaders were driven out in 1989?

a The country descended into civil war.

b Stepped-up U.S. aid helped grow a strong economy.

c The UN assumed control of the country.

d The main rebel group became the government.

6. Why did the United States attack Afghanistan in late 2001?

a Afghanistan was a principal exporter of illegal drugs.

b Afghan rebels had killed U.S. citizens living in Kabul.

c Afghanistan was sheltering terrorists who had planned the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S.

d The Afghan military was viewed as a threat to peace.

ANSWER KEY

1. (c) homeless people.

2. (b) the Taliban.

3. (d) the Soviet Union.

4. (e) sent money and weapons to the Afghans.

5. (a) The country descended into civil war.

6. (c) Afghanistan was sheltering terrorists who had planned the attack on the U.S. in September 2001.

Carlotta Gall is a reporter for The New York Timer based in Kabul. Additional reporting by Patricia Smith.