Old Alliance, New World

AP PHOTO / RAFIQ MAQBOOL

ON DUTY: A British soldier from the NATO led International Security Assistance Force patrols as Afghan children looks on in the outskirts of Kabul.

Jaap De Hoop Scheffer says he has no illusions about the complexity of the task facing Nato in Afghanistan. But the aim of its mission, he adds, is quite simple: finish what was started. "If we think we can leave Afghanistan on its own now after all that we have invested, we are making a fatal mistake," Nato 's Secretary-General told Time last week. "Afghanistan was an exporter of terrorism, and if we do not want it to become one again, we had better take what we do there very seriously."

Who could argue with the...

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