3.10.2002 00:32

Fighting rages on

The furious battle in the snowy Shah-e-Kot mountains of eastern Afghanistan, the fiercest fighting of the five-month Afghan war, was a sobering reminder that America has a long way to go in this effort.

The U.S. last weekend went in after Taliban and al-Qaida fighters who had gathered in mountaintop redoubts, apparently hoping to claw their way back into power in Afghanistan. That kicked off days of combat.

A measure of the viciousness of U.S. enemies was on display when, according to Pentagon officials, they murdered an American Navy Seal who had fallen out of a rescue helicopter, capturing him and shooting him. So much for observing the rules of the Geneva Convention, something the United States has (somewhat reluctantly) tried to do with its detainees at Guantanamo Bay, even if all of its enemies will not reciprocate. Although U.S. military officials said they were pleased with the progress of the battle, there is no telling when it will end.

Some members of Congress -- most prominently, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle -- have been criticizing the U.S. effort and asking for more details of U.S. plans in Afghanistan. (At least, they made such noises until American forces started bleeding anew last weekend, when the politicians quickly recognized it was time again to present a united front.) There are no comforting answers to these questions. As President Bush warned from the start, the struggle against terrorism may take years and ultimate victory will not be easy to detect.

Unfortunately, America has little choice but to persevere. The astonishing destruction of the World Trade Center towers and the attack on the Pentagon underscored America's terrible vulnerability to mass murder by people brainwashed to hate. There is reason to fear future assaults might be much more deadly, possibly involving nuclear, chemical or biological weapons killing tens of thousands, which would obviously badly shake America's confidence and economy.

Crushing al-Qaida and its Afghan backers remains job one. America does not have the resources to fight the terrorist threats of all its enemies at once, but it must keep sending a message to the world that it remembers Sept. 11 -- and remains dedicated and determined to beat back terrorism. The United States must continue to demonstrate that it means what it says if terrorists -- and the regimes that support them -- are to be kept at bay.


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