While attention among policy-makers in Washington remains focused on Iraq, the war in Afghanistan has become an ongoing struggle to keep the country from deteriorating into a failed state. Afghanistan remains one of the keystones in the United States’ “war on terror”. According to news reports, the fighting there this year has escalated to the worst level since the Taliban was toppled in 2001. Meanwhile, the Islamic fundamentalist regime that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 has regained its footing in parts of the country.

As the fighting has intensified, the number of civilian casualties has quickly climbed as well. Human Rights Watch reported in April that more than 900 civilians were killed last year. The first months of this year continued to see a devastating spill over in the violence, with nearly 100 civilians killed in the last two weeks alone.

On Wednesday, it was reported that 21 civilians and one Coalition soldier were killed in Helmand Province in the southern part of Afghanistan when US Special Forces fighting with insurgents in the region called in air strikes. This incident followed an official apology by an Army commander the day before to the families of 69 civilians who were killed or injured by a Marines Special Operations Unit near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan.

Last week, another report of civilian deaths made the news when a US and Afghan Army patrol in western Afghanistan called in air support. Bombing by Coalition forces killed an estimated 40 civilians, including women and children, and wounded more than 50. The deaths of 19 non-combatants on March 4 had also sparked outrage around the country and initiated an internal Army investigation into the event.

The dramatic increase in civilian casualties over the last year could be linked to the tactics of the US-led Coalition forces and Taliban forces battling for power. According to the Human Rights Watch report, there were 136 suicide attacks in Afghanistan in 2006, more than six times the number of suicide attacks from the year before.

The frustration with the increasing loss of life extends beyond public opinion. On Tuesday, the upper house of the Afghan parliament approved a bill that could require international forces to stop all operations unless they are attacked or have consulted with Afghan officials.

Also high on the list of Afghanistan’s challenges is the interference that the fragile government faces from its neighbours. US intelligence sources say that Pakistan is the new haven for Al Qaeda. Afghanistan is also facing interference from its neighbour to the west. Iran has been accused in both Washington and within Afghanistan of funding various insurgent groups within Afghanistan.

Beyond the competing influence of its neighbours, Afghanistan also faces a steep uphill battle against a flourishing opium industry that has taken a firm hold, especially along the country’s southern border. Huge profits from the drug trade make conversion to a legitimate economic system even more challenging. NATO forces don’t address the narcotics issue and, says Teresita Schaffer, a South Asia expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, “We can’t look to local government to clean things up because quite clearly Kabul isn’t up to it.” — IPS