With recent congressional testimony by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, we have seen a vigorous public debate over the prospects for success in Iraq. As violence has surged since the initial U.S. invasion in 2003, Iraq has become a central issue for politicians, journalists, scholars, activists, and the public at large. With the latest information on the results of the "surge," popular opinion has shifted to some extent on the prospects for success in Iraq.

The "other front" of the Global War on Terrorism -- Afghanistan -- has not be the subject of such energetic dialogue among Americans. It is certainly not a forgotten war, but with a presence of less than one fifth of the Coalition soldiers stationed in Iraq, it has not attracted the popular and political interest that Iraq has. 

I am not one to call Iraq "the wrong war at the wrong place in the wrong time." Such calls are reminiscent of congressional opposition during World War II, when critics complained that Roosevelt was overinvesting in the European theater while neglecting the Pacific theater, where the enemy that actually attacked this country resided. Today, there is a vital national security interest in Iraq as there was in Europe a half-century ago.

At the same time, Afghanistan has lacked much of the deliberation that the controversial war in Iraq has set in motion. I spent a year during 2004-2005 in Afghanistan working on the country's first electoral process. I have written a book on those experiences, which I titled A Democracy Is Born. Don't let the book's title fool you -- democracy is a fragile prospect in Afghanistan, and it may yet be derailed.

Why Does Afghanistan Matter?

Afghanistan, as one of the poorest countries in the world, could not be found on a map by most Americans before the al Qaeda terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The Taliban regime that ruled Afghanistan was outcast among the international community, recognized by only a handful of other countries, most of which were themselves pariahs. Then, it became horribly clear that the Taliban represented an intolerable threat to American national security. By hosting international terrorists with proclivities toward anti-American violence, the Taliban had proven too dangerous to ignore.

In the south of Afghanistan, there still live the Pashtun tribes whose lack of education, religious fundamentalism, and warlike demeanor provide a welcoming environment for regimes such as the Taliban and movements such as al Qaeda. In fact, on the Pakistani side of the border, these tribes have already reestablished the same type of regime that hosted the planners of the World Trade Center bombing. The Taliban's military leader, Jalaluddin Haqqani, has established a state-within-a-state called the Islamic Emirate of Waziristan, which is ruled with the harsh justice of the former Taliban regime, strictly enforcing their interpretation of sharia law and beheading offenders. They are also exporting suicide bombers and militant fighters across the border. If these fighters succeed in their goal to once again gain control of Afghanistan, it would represent a serious setback for American foreign policy.

The Major Obstacles to Democracy

Afghanistan is by no means on an unobstructed path to democracy. Numerous challenges face the country Culturally, Afghanistan shares many similarities with the European medieval societies that preceded modern industrialized democracy. Ann Jones in Kabul in Winter remarked, "Afghanistan follows the Islamic calendar that counts the days from the Prophet's flight to Medina, so that in Afghanistan at that time the year was 1380. Until that moment the different calendar had seemed to me a cultural curiosity, like an alternative system of bookkeeping, but in the Welayat [a Kabul prison] the fourteenth century became real." This makes it a challenge to implement the sort of multiethnic democracy with which many developed nations still struggle.

More problematically, the country faces several difficulties that may derail it from the track to full-fledged democracy.

First, the narcotics industry is booming. This threatens the government, whose options to restrict the drug trade are limited due to the fragility of the Afghan economy.

Second, the underdeveloped economy itself is among the challenges facing democracy in Afghanistan. The lack of education, technology, and civil society present impediments to democratic progress.

Third, warlordism presents a significant problem for the peaceful and lawful society needed for a successful democracy.

Finally, ethnic and religious divisions are prominent, and while they do not currently manifest serious tensions, they cast an ominous shadow over Afghanistan's nascent democracy. These ethnic divisions are especially troubling when compared to other multiethnic developing democracies that have never escaped violent rivalry.

What Next?

In 2007, the Senlis Council, a British think tank, released a report entitled Countering the Insurgency in Afghanistan: Losing Friends and Making Enemies. The report noted, "With a rapid rise in violent insurgency, southern Afghanistan is at tipping point." By mid-2006, fighting in Afghanistan had reached its highest intensity since the initial invasion in 2001, according to the comments of the commanding general of Combined Forces Command, Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, on May 5, 2006.

Afghanistan is a country, like Iraq, whose security interests are very closely tied to the United States. Thus far, American and Coalition success in the war in Afghanistan has resulted in significant progress. However, the situation is far from resolved, and it requires closer attention by Americans. In any democracy, including our own, an informed citizenry is the key to solving the pressing problems that face society in troubled times.