As the nation marked the 5th anniversary of American military operations within Iraq in March, to the east across the desert lay Afghanistan - violent, uneasy, and largely forgotten by a United States distracted by a dismal economy, a landmark election year, and…well, Iraq. But according to casualty statements released by the Pentagon, more American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in May than in Iraq - the first time since the beginning of the war. The Taliban, too, quickly dispersed by American forces in 2001, is regrouping. Insurgent militias and al-Qaida networks are rebuilding, rearming, and renewing their campaign against both the U.S. military and Afghan government forces.

As the Associated Press wrote on June 13, 2008:

The deterioration in Afghanistan suggests a troubling additional possibility: a widening of the war to Pakistan, where the Taliban and al-Qaida have found haven.

Since the United States invaded Afghanistan in October of 2001, more than 500 American troops have been killed, and the rising toll in May has some at the Pentagon increasingly concerned. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is urging defense ministers within the NATO alliance to commit more significantly to Afghanistan.

“It’s important that we live up to our pledges in both the civilian and military spheres as necessary for success in Afghanistan,” he said at the conclusion of recent NATO conference in Belgium. According to the AP, Gates’ report on the conference fell short of positive. Since replacing Donald Rumsfeld in late 2006, Gates has at times expressed concern that the war in Iraq has distracted from the United States’ original mission in Afghanistan, and his evaluation of recent successes in Iraq has been cautiously optimistic. At a hearing on his nomination in 2006, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) asked Gates if he believed the United States was winning the war in Iraq. Gates replied: “No, sir,” but added that the military wasn’t losing either.

Yet as the situation in Iraq appears to improve and relations between the U.S. military and Iraqi civilians seem to ease, the image of the American forces in Afghanistan is crumbling. The nation’s illicit drug trade - principally in opium - is booming despite coalition attempts to eradicate the poppy fields. According to the C.I.A.’s World Factbook, as much as one third of Afghanistan’s GDP is generated by the trade. The U.N. reports that illicit drugs reached record levels in 2007, with more than three million Afghanis involved in their production. As the BBC reports:

Opium produced from the plants fuels the insurgency, threatens the stability of the country, and leads to growing drug addiction in Afghanistan and the wider world…They [poppy growers] feel betrayed. They say promises of help to find alternative livelihoods have not materialized. An Afghan government minister warns that this anger could be playing into the hands of the Taliban and other anti-government forces.

Further complicating matters is tension between the U.S. military, Afghani civilians, and, most recently, the Afghan government itself. Over the weekend, Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered an investigation into a U.S. helicopter strike that a provincial governor claims killed 22 civilians and injured several more, a claim the U.S. military denies. The incident is hardly isolated. In the capital city of Kabul, local officials have pinned the deaths of 27 civilians in a wedding party on an errant U.S. strike. Again, U.S. and coalition forces have denied the charges.

As the “surge” appears to be paying dividends in Iraq, military and civilian analysts alike are beginning to wonder: is “The Other War,” Afghanistan, at the breaking point? Just hours ago, the Indian Embassy in Kabul was reported blown up by a suicide car bomber. 41 were killed instantly, another 130 injured. The attack, according to The New York Times, represented the deadliest car bombing in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion in Oct. 2001. Over the phone, a spokesman for the Taliban denied responsibility.

“The suicide bomb attack was not carried out by Taliban,” said Zabiullah Mujahed. “We strongly reject that accusation. We don’t know who carried it out.” According to the New York Times, however, “the Taliban frequently disavow knowledge of attacks that cause heavy civilian casualties.”

The denial of the Taliban, likely involved if not responsible for today’s massacre, underscores the complexities and perils of the security situation in Afghanistan. Almost seven years in, the Taliban and al-Qaida reestablished and newly emboldened, drug trafficking at record highs, distrust of American forces rampant and a border with Pakistan beginning to boil over, The Other War, still, remains just that: an afterthought. Will the violence continue to escalate? Will the Taliban regain its hold? Is war within Pakistan inevitable?

Does anyone even care?