Fugitive al-Qaeda fighters inside Afghanistan and violence between rival factions in the government are threatening the country's security, the United States's top general warned last night.
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Richard Myers warned that leaders of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network still on the loose in Afghanistan posed an ongoing threat to the country's stability and that the situation had to be made "more secure" for the interim government of Afghan leader Mr Hamid Karzai.
"There's a threat that remains in Afghanistan. It would be there a little bit longer until we can capture some of the [al-Qaeda] leadership still remaining and try and make the situation more secure," Gen Myers said.
"Some prominent US lawmaker said the war in Afghanistan was essentially over. I think it's just beginning," he told reporters.
Despite the fall of the Taliban, bin Laden - whom Washington blames for masterminding the September 11th attacks - and former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar are apparently still at large.
US forces are hunting them, along with other Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders, in remote mountainous corners of Afghanistan, but so far the most senior captive in US hands is former Taliban foreign minister Mullah Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil who gave himself up earlier this month.