Failed State

Another predictable, and predicted, consequence of the invasion of Iraq is coming to pass.

Afghanistan is in danger of becoming a failed state.

The assessment, co-chaired by retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones and former U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering, serves as a warning to the Bush administration at a time military and congressional officials are debating how best to juggle stretched warfighting resources.

The administration wants to re-energize anti-terrorism efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where al-Qaida is regenerating. But the U.S. still remains heavily invested in Iraq, and officials are sending strong signals that troop reductions there will slow or stop altogether this summer.

"Afghanistan stands at a crossroads," concludes the study, an advance copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. "The progress achieved after six years of international engagement is under serious threat from resurgent violence, weakening international resolve, mounting regional challenges and a growing lack of confidence on the part of the Afghan people about the future direction of their country."

Rather than finish the job he started in Afghanistan, Bush got distracted by dreams of empire. Now, the country is at risk of sliding right back into the hands of the terrorists and terrorist enablers from whom we liberated it.

The president can't say he wasn't warned.