Seven years since, none of the initial goals have been met. Instead, millions of dollars and precious lives have been lost in military operations that have bought very few positive results. The Taliban was ousted from power for a while, but now they are regrouping and back to their old ways. In many parts of the country the Taliban is actively recruiting and rearming. They have also re-launched their campaign against educating women and girls, freedom of expression and speech, and religious tolerance. Al Qaeda has spread its tentacles from Afghanistan into neighboring Pakistan, while the U.S. spent millions of dollars trying to crush this organization.

Another disturbing aspect of this war is that the U.S. and its allies support a totally incompetent government lead by President Hamid Karzai. Under this leadership, or lack of, corruption is rampant in the country while warlords are roaming around with impunity and the mullahs are terrorizing journalists, women who dare ask for their rights, and those with a different view on Islam.

Attacks against free speech and journalists have resulted in a 20-year prison term for a young Afghan student journalist.

According to The New York Times, Parwiz Kambakhsh, 24, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for blasphemy. His crime? He is accused of downloading articles on women's rights and distributing them. The prison term comes after an earlier death sentence was commuted.

The trial against Mr. Kambakhsh was shoddy and unfair, his family alleges. They say that the court ignored that many witnesses had retracted their earlier statements and that the verdict was reached in secret without the family being notified properly.

Unfortunately, Mr. Kambakhsh is not the only one being attacked in Afghanistan for his views or his alleged activity. Journalists are begin systematically targeted in the country by the hard-line fundamentalists who are trying to silence the call for a more open and democratic Afghanistan. Mr. Karzai on the other hand is silent on the issue and refuses to stand up to the fundamentalists.

Bhumika Ghimire