As President Bush and key members of his Cabinet go globetrotting in search of help to quell the violence in Iraq, they shouldn’t take their eyes off the country that harbored the original international terrorists — Afghanistan.

Two recent dispatches have raised our eyebrows and should be a concern:

n The Taliban claim they have retaken Arghandab District in Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan, expelling all Afghani soldiers and forcing U.S. forces to evacuate their base.

n The U.S. Air Force has conducted more than 2,000 air strikes in Afghanistan during the past six months, a sharp increase in bombing that reflects the growing demand for air cover.

Americans must be alerted that the mission of U.S. and NATO forces to preserve this new democracy is far from accomplished.