Joy, and Resolve Too

It’s time to celebrate. A bit. The defeat of the Taliban Friday in the city that spawned the fanatical regime capped a remarkable two months of progress in the initial phase of the fight against terrorism. In Germany days earlier, representatives of usually feuding Afghan factions put aside ethnic hostilities to agree on an interim government. In Kandahar, anti-Taliban troops chased their foes from the city that for five years was the regime’s spiritual headquarters.

Chaos still plagues Kandahar. Some Taliban members surrendered; others fled with their weapons and may try to fight again if U.S. forces don’t cut them down first. The hunt continues for Osama bin Laden, head of the Al Qaeda terror group, and Mullah Mohammed Omar, an architect of the Taliban’s iron-fist brand of Islam. A stray bomb killed three U.S. Green Berets in the battle for the city this week, and fighting could continue for weeks or longer in parts of the country. But victories in Mazar-i-Sharif, Kabul, Herat and then Kandahar reflect a good use of U.S. air, sea and ground power in support of anti-Taliban Afghan fighters. Now, with women in those cities lifting their veils for the first time in years, children dancing to music banned by the Taliban and families digging up forbidden televisions, the rest of the world can rejoice in the extraordinary moment too. And then get back to work.

Chasing Taliban troops from their strongholds will make it easier for an international peacekeeping force to provide security without interfering with ongoing military operations. The United Nations must move quickly to assemble and install that force.

Decades of war have driven hundreds of thousands of Afghans out of their country, with many winding up in primitive camps in Pakistan. The renewed fighting has forced many more to flee their homes and become refugees inside Afghanistan, living in hardscrabble conditions as winter takes hold. Children especially are at risk in a land where life expectancy always has been low.

Liberated Kandahar offers hope for a better future. But only if the world continues to show resolve.