Karzai To Bush: Don't Forget Me

By Tim McGirk

As the U.S. prepares to shift its war against terror to Iraq, one former beneficiary of U.S. military might is worried that he might be forgotten. Afghan President Hamid Karzai will meet with President Bush in Washington this week, seeking assurances, his aides say, that even if the U.S. gets mired in Iraq, it will not pull back from its unfinished war in Afghanistan. For now, 9,000 U.S. troops remain on the ground in Afghanistan, and Karzai will probably lobby to keep them there for at least two more years. The White House seems ready to agree. A Karzai aide says Bush reassured the Afghan leader on the phone last week: "We started this war on terrorism together, and we'll finish it together."

At home, Karzai faces threats not only from resurgent Taliban along Afghanistan's border with Pakistan but also from regional commanders, who often refuse to obey the Afghan President. Karzai rarely leaves his stone-gated palace. His bodyguards--American special forces--are so wary of another assassination attempt that even Cabinet ministers are frisked before they enter his office. When Karzai left the palace last week to begin the journey that will take him to Japan and the U.S., American F-16 fighter jets prowled overhead to ensure that no missile-toting foe shot down his plane.

What's more, there are signs that the Taliban's former leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, may be flexing his muscles again. Zubair, a close aide of Omar's, tells TIME the fugitive Taliban leader is "alive, and starting to communicate by messengers with his fighters." If true, this is the first sign that Omar may be trying to regain control over his scattered fighters, most of whom fled to Pakistan. --By Tim McGirk