In the aftermath of the Democrats' decisive victory in last week's elections, which exit polls showed was due to heavy disapproval of the ongoing war in Iraq, not to mention the forthcoming release of the conclusions of the Iraq Study Group, it will surely be Iraq that gets the attention of politicians, journalists and pundits. But a new report shows that we ignore our other ongoing war -- the one in Afghanistan -- at our peril.
The report, issued by the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board, a coalition of observers from Afghanistan and elsewhere, including the U.N., says that the situation in Afghanistan has worsened over the past year: Insurgent attacks have increased by a factor of four, the drug trade is up by more than half and, as a result, more than 3,700 have died. For more here, see this post from last week on a recent, grim assessment of Afghanistan by the CIA, news of which was likely overlooked just before the midterm elections.
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