GINNY STEIN : Springtime in Afghanistan, and the gypsies are on the move towards greener pastures. The snow, which has covered these mountains, is melting. It's more than a year since the Taliban was overthrown but Afghanistan remains a volatile and dangerous place. America may have won the battle here, but it has failed to keep the peace.
AQIL SHAH, INDEPENDENT SECURITY ANALYST: It's open to question whether it has been a success, because Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar are still at large. Their ability to regroup and re-establish their campaigns, especially the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, and the impunity with which they have been able to attack US forces in recent times, shows that they're down but not completely out.
STEIN : A convoy of food aid leaving Kabul. For foreigners, the decision to leave the relative safety of the capital is not taken lightly. After months of calm, a steep rise in violence and lawlessness in southern and eastern Afghanistan is threatening aid work. Last month, a Red Cross worker was murdered in the south, near Kandahar. Travelling with local Red Cross staff, he was singled out for being a foreigner.
SALLY AUSTIN, CARE INTERNATIONAL: They were stopped at a checkpoint just as they entered into Kandahar, northern Kandahar province. The head of the armed men took out a sat phone, phoned somebody, we obviously don't know who, and clearly asked permission whether they should shoot the expatriate. They got that permission. He was taken out of the vehicle. There was just one in the vehicle, as I understand it, and he was taken to the side of the road and executed.
STEIN : The 39-year-old aid worker was shot 20 times. He was murdered in a part of the country where fundamentalists have threatened to kill supporters of Afghanistan's 'infidel government'.
SALLY AUSTIN: Well, I've been working here for three-and-a-half years. This is the first instance of this nature that I've heard about in this country and it makes it extremely worrying to think what may happen in the future, as well as obviously sympathy for the family and the staff that were with him.
STEIN : Some parts of the country where aid is most needed have been declared no-go areas. This convoy's journey to Khowst, south-east of Kabul, now takes 12 hours, not the four hours it did before. Following a spate of ambushes, the more direct route has been deemed unsafe. For aid workers, safety is now of utmost importance.
SALLY AUSTIN: I think it's one of the decisions that we make when looking at expanding our activities. Our local staff will say that's probably not somewhere we want to go to at the moment. We have not actually closed down any areas because of security at the moment, but we have certainly not expanded into other places.
SOLDIER: Im Mike Three Zero Bravo. Now leaving our location on task. Over.
STEIN : In Kabul, the only part of Afghanistan where there's a semblance of security, an international force of 5,500 UN soldiers keeps the peace. Since the start of the war in Iraq, the number of daily patrols has almost doubled, an attempt to assure the people of Afghanistan that they are not going to be abandoned.
BRITISH SOLDIER: Out on a patrol just to show our presence in Kabul, that we usually do, just to show that we're still here.
STEIN : In recent weeks, Afghan rebels - remnants of Taliban and al-Qa'ida forces - have stepped up their attacks on foreign troops. Even the capital is under attack from those the Americans came to rout. Last month, the main military compound in Kabul suffered a direct hit. There are fears incidents like these will increase as war continues in Iraq.
MAJOR SIMON ETHERINGTON, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ASSISTANCE FORCE: There are clearly Islamic or al-Qa'ida groups who would still wish to destabilise the process here, or indeed have a go at either the Americans or the British here. So, yes, these people are around, they do pose a threat. There was an attack on a Dutch patrol a couple of weeks ago. So that's a real and credible threat, which we must be aware of.
STEIN : After the attack on the Dutch patrol, this helicopter was called in to help contain the area. One man had been killed in the ambush and two others were injured. The fact that the attackers used a remote-controlled explosive device has the commander at the International Assistance Force worried.
GENERAL NORBERT VAN HEYST, ISAF COMMANDER: According to my assessment that is a new quality, because this was really directed on this patrol with a guy sitting in the background and pushing the button.
STEIN : No chances are taken when it comes to President Karzai. He's survived two assassination attempts and now wherever he goes US Special Forces and his own presidential guards are ready. On this day, the Karzai Cabinet was marking National Education Day. Despite the fact that the central government has no real authority outside of Kabul, Foreign Minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah argues that security has improved.
DR ABDULLAH ABDULLAH, AFGHAN FOREIGN MINISTER: The threat is now from individual terrorist groups which are still around in Afghanistan and around Afghanistan, with the small groups of them which are hiding here or there. That is the main security threat.
STEIN : American soldiers looking for terrorists in a village near the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. While the United Nations force has no mandate to leave Kabul, the US-led joint task force conducts hit-and-run missions around the country. But even the Americans have come under attack in recent weeks. Their bases in the east have been hit with rocket and mortar fire.
GENERAL DAN McNEILL, JOINT TASK FORCE COMMANDER: We're not here to sit around airfields, or to sit around nice buildings and be comfortable. We are here to advance against an enemy and the enemy we see that we must advance against is a terrorist or those who support terrorists.
STEIN : In fact, the most serious threat to Afghanistan's security comes not from so-called terrorists, but from the country's warlords, many of whom helped America overthrow the Taliban. The town of Gardez is only about three hours south of Kabul. But this is frontier country, close to the border with Pakistan. Gardez is being fought over by local authorities appointed by the central government and the warlord Pacha Khan Zadran, who controls much of the surrounding countryside. The deputy commander of police, Fasel Ahmad Wasiq, describes the warlord's crimes.
FASEL AHMAD WASIQ, DEPUTY COMMANDER OF POLICE (Translation): He fired rockets at the innocent people in Gardez - about 1,500 rockets in one day. Many people have been killed. He wanted to create chaos. He is a criminal and we want to arrest him.
STEIN : Pacha Khan's attack on Gardez was an act of revenge. The government had failed to keep a promise to appoint him governor and he responded by shelling the town, killing 25 people, many of them children. He is now a wanted man.
FASEL AHMAD WASIQ (Translation): We will question Pacha Khan because of his past activities. To Karzai, he is a criminal. We will arrest him and hand him over to the central authorities.
STEIN : With the police, US Special Forces and Afghanistan's fledgling national army after him, Pacha Khan believes he's living on borrowed time. He is understandably wary of visitors, but agreed to meet with Dateline. He sent his brother to guide us to him.
KAMAL KHAN, PACHA KHANS BROTHER (Translation): They are my friends. I'm going to meet them.
STEIN : This road, to main highway to the border with Pakistan, is now closed to all UN traffic. It's considered too unsafe. Pacha Khan's troops have set up check-posts along the route. Just days before we travelled this way, US Special Forces attempted to disarm his men at one of their checkpoints, killing six of them. The irony of all of this is that Pacha Khan was once a valuable ally in America's war on terror.
PACHA KHAN ZADRAN, WARLORD (Translation): When the Americans first came to Paktia, we made the airfields for them, we provided them with forces, I gave 600 men for the campaign. Our 600 men served them by fighting al-Qa'ida here and there.
STEIN : Pacha Khan is angry about attempts by US Special Forces to disarm his men.
PACHA KHAN ZADRAN, WARLORD (Translation): If they keep interfering like this they will pay the price. This won't help them. Definitely this will add to the number of their enemies. I am the enemy of their enemies. I told the Americans they have not come here to interfere in our internal affairs. You have come for al-Qa'ida. You must not interfere in our internal affairs.
STEIN : The commander of the joint task force acknowledges Pacha Khan's early role in the war against al-Qa'ida. But the warlord's usefulness appears to have run its course.
GENERAL DAN McNEILL, JOINT TASK FORCE COMMANDER: I should point out that Pacha Khan Zadran has indeed helped at certain points in the fight against terrorists. He has helped the coalition. He has not helped the coalition much for about the last eight months or so. In fact, he's been problematic, in that I would describe him almost as a nuisance.
STEIN : Twice in the past month, US Special Forces have opened fire on Pacha Khan's men. On the most recent occasion, just days after Dateline's visit, his eldest son was shot dead.
GENERAL DAN McNEILL, JOINT TASK FORCE COMMANDER: His son shot first. The record ought to show that, that his son and the forces with him shot first.
REPORTER: What has caused the turn?
GENERAL DAN McNEILL, JOINT TASK FORCE COMMANDER: I think that he has been disenfranchised by the central government. I believe he has been ostracised by a number of his fellow tribesmen. I think he is an unwelcome persona down in the Gardez-Khowst area. I think it's a combination of all of those things.
STEIN : It was President Karzai who offered Pacha Khan the governorship of this region, and it was he who retracted it. Pacha Khan's anger at Afghanistan's leader is palpable.
PACHA KHAN ZADRAN (Translation): He said that if he could not deliver within three months, he would resign. The whole world knows what he has delivered so far. Why hasn't he resigned? What benefit has he brought to the people? He's done no good for the nation.
STEIN : It was on this morning that America declared war on Iraq.
RADIO NEWS BROADCAST (Translation): Included in the Iraqi opposition are generals who have deserted the army.
STEIN : News of the invasion travelled fast. This isolated outpost, controlled by a warlord angry at America, no longer felt safe. In the stand-off between the central government and Pacha Khan, the government is now threatening more direct action.
DR ABDULLAH ABDULLAH, AFGHAN FOREIGN MINISTER: The choice is his, whether he will be a part of the reform, the positive changes in the country, or he will choose to be called a warlord and be dealt with one way or another.
REPORTER: That is the threat - that he will be dealt with militarily if he doesn't...?
DR ABDULLAH ABDULLAH, AFGHAN FOREIGN MINISTER: I think this situation cannot last forever. I think it is almost over a year, or around a year, since this issue is pending, and the government and the President himself have shown patience and tolerance and indulgence to a great deal. Will he take it for granted and continue to create problems? That is his choice.
STEIN : The people of Gardez are worried about more than just the warlord next door. In the past month, rockets have been fired numerous times at the US Special Forces military base established on the outskirts of the town. This time, Pacha Khan has not been implicated.
OLD MAN IN GARDEZ (Translation): The rockets landed. They destroyed trees and fields. It was night. Thank God, the kids were not outside. We are sick of these rockets. Nobody slept because of the rockets. Everyone is scared.
STEIN : In an attempt to make itself more welcome here in Gardez, the US military has set up a provincial reconstruction team. PRTs, as the military calls them, are designed to assist in local rebuilding efforts, but they also have a clear military rationale.
GENERAL DAN McNEILL, JOINT TASK FORCE COMMANDER: Go back to my mission one. Capture or kill terrorists. One of the ways I can do that is deny them sanctuary, and that's what PRTs are all about. It's my belief that a bold step in reconstruction is what is needed to cause this entire country to be less of a sanctuary for terrorists.
STEIN : The Americans hope that military reconstruction teams will lead the way into areas considered unsafe, and that aid workers will follow. But on this day, the office of the Gardez PRT, housed in the centre of town, in the governor's office, was closed, due to security concerns. The people of Gardez have not been won over.
REPORTER: What do you think about what the Americans are doing here?
MAN IN GARDEZ (Translation): The Americans should help us build roads and schools. We need security from looters and bandits, to get on with life. We want to walk in safety and the cars to move freely. Last night there were many rocket attacks. We don't know who fired them. We are poor people. There's no security at all. We want to be safe.
REPORTER: So the Americans have rebuilt some schools. Is that a good thing or not?
MAN IN GARDEZ (Translation): Just two schools, that's all. You can see they rebuilt roads and bridges. I'm a driver, but because of lack of security I'm too scared to drive. If I drove I'd be robbed of my vehicle. I'd be harassed. You call that security?
STEIN : The military's involvement in reconstruction has angered many aid workers, who say it's placing their lives at risk.
SALLY AUSTIN, CARE INTERNATIONAL: Our couple of concerns are that (a), this will not improve security. They have to focus on security, like working with the army and the police. And also by getting involved in reconstruction, they are blurring the differentiation between NGOs and the military. The coalition, the PRTs, are still involved in tracking of al-Qa'ida. They are not a neutral force in Afghanistan.
REPORTER: So when you hear what happened with the man from the ICRC, when you hear about that incident, do you believe that that might be an example of where it's gone wrong?
SALLY AUSTIN, CARE INTERNATIONAL: I am concerned that it is, that this type of involvement of the coalition in humanitarian work or reconstruction work is compromising our security in Afghanistan.
REPORTER: To the point that more lives could be lost?
SALLY AUSTIN, CARE INTERNATIONAL: To the point that more lives could be lost.
NATIONAL ARMY MARCHING AND SINGING (Translation): We want to rebuild our nation. That's our great joy.
STEIN : These are the first graduates of what's been deemed to be Afghanistan's long-term solution to peace and prosperity - a home-grown national army. So far, only the first few thousand have passed basic training. There are plans to increase that number to 12,000 by the middle of next year. In a country controlled by warlords, the first mission of the national army is to let people know who they are.
ANA PATROL TRUCK (MAN SPEAKS THROUGH MEGAPHONE) (Translation): These people belong to no particular group or leader. This is the national army of the people of Afghanistan.
STEIN : But for as long as every warlord commands a sizable militia, a few thousand soldiers will just be window dressing. The United States International Assistance Force, or ISAF, has its own limitations, which its commander is happy to acknowledge.
REPORTER: In real terms, how can this security battle be won when ISAF is restricted to Kabul? You can win hearts and minds here in Kabul, but it's hardly the whole of Afghanistan.
GENERAL NORBERT VAN HEYST, ISAF COMMANDER: I think you are right but it is basically a political decision. It has to be decided by the Kabul, by the Afghan authorities, meaning the Afghan Government on the one hand and by the, what we call lead nations, that are the political level, actually above ISAF.
STEIN : President Karzai has made repeated requests for financial assistance to extend the reach of the UN military force. But as he discovered in Washington last month, when America turns its attention someplace else, the world stage can be a lonely place. Unable to pay for his nation's civil servants, let alone his new national army, the President's pleas fell on deaf ears.
REPORTER: Do you think America has lost interest in Afghanistan?
AQIL SHAH, INDEPENDENT SECURITY ANALYST: I think it would be fair to say that their commitment to reconstruction and security is being strained, and it's likely that the attention deficit of US policy-makers vis-a-vis Afghanistan is likely to grow, depending on how things in the Middle East turn out.
AQIL SHAH, INDEPENDENT SECURITY ANALYST: It's open to question whether it has been a success, because Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar are still at large. Their ability to regroup and re-establish their campaigns, especially the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, and the impunity with which they have been able to attack US forces in recent times, shows that they're down but not completely out.
STEIN : A convoy of food aid leaving Kabul. For foreigners, the decision to leave the relative safety of the capital is not taken lightly. After months of calm, a steep rise in violence and lawlessness in southern and eastern Afghanistan is threatening aid work. Last month, a Red Cross worker was murdered in the south, near Kandahar. Travelling with local Red Cross staff, he was singled out for being a foreigner.
SALLY AUSTIN, CARE INTERNATIONAL: They were stopped at a checkpoint just as they entered into Kandahar, northern Kandahar province. The head of the armed men took out a sat phone, phoned somebody, we obviously don't know who, and clearly asked permission whether they should shoot the expatriate. They got that permission. He was taken out of the vehicle. There was just one in the vehicle, as I understand it, and he was taken to the side of the road and executed.
STEIN : The 39-year-old aid worker was shot 20 times. He was murdered in a part of the country where fundamentalists have threatened to kill supporters of Afghanistan's 'infidel government'.
SALLY AUSTIN: Well, I've been working here for three-and-a-half years. This is the first instance of this nature that I've heard about in this country and it makes it extremely worrying to think what may happen in the future, as well as obviously sympathy for the family and the staff that were with him.
STEIN : Some parts of the country where aid is most needed have been declared no-go areas. This convoy's journey to Khowst, south-east of Kabul, now takes 12 hours, not the four hours it did before. Following a spate of ambushes, the more direct route has been deemed unsafe. For aid workers, safety is now of utmost importance.
SALLY AUSTIN: I think it's one of the decisions that we make when looking at expanding our activities. Our local staff will say that's probably not somewhere we want to go to at the moment. We have not actually closed down any areas because of security at the moment, but we have certainly not expanded into other places.
SOLDIER: Im Mike Three Zero Bravo. Now leaving our location on task. Over.
STEIN : In Kabul, the only part of Afghanistan where there's a semblance of security, an international force of 5,500 UN soldiers keeps the peace. Since the start of the war in Iraq, the number of daily patrols has almost doubled, an attempt to assure the people of Afghanistan that they are not going to be abandoned.
BRITISH SOLDIER: Out on a patrol just to show our presence in Kabul, that we usually do, just to show that we're still here.
STEIN : In recent weeks, Afghan rebels - remnants of Taliban and al-Qa'ida forces - have stepped up their attacks on foreign troops. Even the capital is under attack from those the Americans came to rout. Last month, the main military compound in Kabul suffered a direct hit. There are fears incidents like these will increase as war continues in Iraq.
MAJOR SIMON ETHERINGTON, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ASSISTANCE FORCE: There are clearly Islamic or al-Qa'ida groups who would still wish to destabilise the process here, or indeed have a go at either the Americans or the British here. So, yes, these people are around, they do pose a threat. There was an attack on a Dutch patrol a couple of weeks ago. So that's a real and credible threat, which we must be aware of.
STEIN : After the attack on the Dutch patrol, this helicopter was called in to help contain the area. One man had been killed in the ambush and two others were injured. The fact that the attackers used a remote-controlled explosive device has the commander at the International Assistance Force worried.
GENERAL NORBERT VAN HEYST, ISAF COMMANDER: According to my assessment that is a new quality, because this was really directed on this patrol with a guy sitting in the background and pushing the button.
STEIN : No chances are taken when it comes to President Karzai. He's survived two assassination attempts and now wherever he goes US Special Forces and his own presidential guards are ready. On this day, the Karzai Cabinet was marking National Education Day. Despite the fact that the central government has no real authority outside of Kabul, Foreign Minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah argues that security has improved.
DR ABDULLAH ABDULLAH, AFGHAN FOREIGN MINISTER: The threat is now from individual terrorist groups which are still around in Afghanistan and around Afghanistan, with the small groups of them which are hiding here or there. That is the main security threat.
STEIN : American soldiers looking for terrorists in a village near the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. While the United Nations force has no mandate to leave Kabul, the US-led joint task force conducts hit-and-run missions around the country. But even the Americans have come under attack in recent weeks. Their bases in the east have been hit with rocket and mortar fire.
GENERAL DAN McNEILL, JOINT TASK FORCE COMMANDER: We're not here to sit around airfields, or to sit around nice buildings and be comfortable. We are here to advance against an enemy and the enemy we see that we must advance against is a terrorist or those who support terrorists.
STEIN : In fact, the most serious threat to Afghanistan's security comes not from so-called terrorists, but from the country's warlords, many of whom helped America overthrow the Taliban. The town of Gardez is only about three hours south of Kabul. But this is frontier country, close to the border with Pakistan. Gardez is being fought over by local authorities appointed by the central government and the warlord Pacha Khan Zadran, who controls much of the surrounding countryside. The deputy commander of police, Fasel Ahmad Wasiq, describes the warlord's crimes.
FASEL AHMAD WASIQ, DEPUTY COMMANDER OF POLICE (Translation): He fired rockets at the innocent people in Gardez - about 1,500 rockets in one day. Many people have been killed. He wanted to create chaos. He is a criminal and we want to arrest him.
STEIN : Pacha Khan's attack on Gardez was an act of revenge. The government had failed to keep a promise to appoint him governor and he responded by shelling the town, killing 25 people, many of them children. He is now a wanted man.
FASEL AHMAD WASIQ (Translation): We will question Pacha Khan because of his past activities. To Karzai, he is a criminal. We will arrest him and hand him over to the central authorities.
STEIN : With the police, US Special Forces and Afghanistan's fledgling national army after him, Pacha Khan believes he's living on borrowed time. He is understandably wary of visitors, but agreed to meet with Dateline. He sent his brother to guide us to him.
KAMAL KHAN, PACHA KHANS BROTHER (Translation): They are my friends. I'm going to meet them.
STEIN : This road, to main highway to the border with Pakistan, is now closed to all UN traffic. It's considered too unsafe. Pacha Khan's troops have set up check-posts along the route. Just days before we travelled this way, US Special Forces attempted to disarm his men at one of their checkpoints, killing six of them. The irony of all of this is that Pacha Khan was once a valuable ally in America's war on terror.
PACHA KHAN ZADRAN, WARLORD (Translation): When the Americans first came to Paktia, we made the airfields for them, we provided them with forces, I gave 600 men for the campaign. Our 600 men served them by fighting al-Qa'ida here and there.
STEIN : Pacha Khan is angry about attempts by US Special Forces to disarm his men.
PACHA KHAN ZADRAN, WARLORD (Translation): If they keep interfering like this they will pay the price. This won't help them. Definitely this will add to the number of their enemies. I am the enemy of their enemies. I told the Americans they have not come here to interfere in our internal affairs. You have come for al-Qa'ida. You must not interfere in our internal affairs.
STEIN : The commander of the joint task force acknowledges Pacha Khan's early role in the war against al-Qa'ida. But the warlord's usefulness appears to have run its course.
GENERAL DAN McNEILL, JOINT TASK FORCE COMMANDER: I should point out that Pacha Khan Zadran has indeed helped at certain points in the fight against terrorists. He has helped the coalition. He has not helped the coalition much for about the last eight months or so. In fact, he's been problematic, in that I would describe him almost as a nuisance.
STEIN : Twice in the past month, US Special Forces have opened fire on Pacha Khan's men. On the most recent occasion, just days after Dateline's visit, his eldest son was shot dead.
GENERAL DAN McNEILL, JOINT TASK FORCE COMMANDER: His son shot first. The record ought to show that, that his son and the forces with him shot first.
REPORTER: What has caused the turn?
GENERAL DAN McNEILL, JOINT TASK FORCE COMMANDER: I think that he has been disenfranchised by the central government. I believe he has been ostracised by a number of his fellow tribesmen. I think he is an unwelcome persona down in the Gardez-Khowst area. I think it's a combination of all of those things.
STEIN : It was President Karzai who offered Pacha Khan the governorship of this region, and it was he who retracted it. Pacha Khan's anger at Afghanistan's leader is palpable.
PACHA KHAN ZADRAN (Translation): He said that if he could not deliver within three months, he would resign. The whole world knows what he has delivered so far. Why hasn't he resigned? What benefit has he brought to the people? He's done no good for the nation.
STEIN : It was on this morning that America declared war on Iraq.
RADIO NEWS BROADCAST (Translation): Included in the Iraqi opposition are generals who have deserted the army.
STEIN : News of the invasion travelled fast. This isolated outpost, controlled by a warlord angry at America, no longer felt safe. In the stand-off between the central government and Pacha Khan, the government is now threatening more direct action.
DR ABDULLAH ABDULLAH, AFGHAN FOREIGN MINISTER: The choice is his, whether he will be a part of the reform, the positive changes in the country, or he will choose to be called a warlord and be dealt with one way or another.
REPORTER: That is the threat - that he will be dealt with militarily if he doesn't...?
DR ABDULLAH ABDULLAH, AFGHAN FOREIGN MINISTER: I think this situation cannot last forever. I think it is almost over a year, or around a year, since this issue is pending, and the government and the President himself have shown patience and tolerance and indulgence to a great deal. Will he take it for granted and continue to create problems? That is his choice.
STEIN : The people of Gardez are worried about more than just the warlord next door. In the past month, rockets have been fired numerous times at the US Special Forces military base established on the outskirts of the town. This time, Pacha Khan has not been implicated.
OLD MAN IN GARDEZ (Translation): The rockets landed. They destroyed trees and fields. It was night. Thank God, the kids were not outside. We are sick of these rockets. Nobody slept because of the rockets. Everyone is scared.
STEIN : In an attempt to make itself more welcome here in Gardez, the US military has set up a provincial reconstruction team. PRTs, as the military calls them, are designed to assist in local rebuilding efforts, but they also have a clear military rationale.
GENERAL DAN McNEILL, JOINT TASK FORCE COMMANDER: Go back to my mission one. Capture or kill terrorists. One of the ways I can do that is deny them sanctuary, and that's what PRTs are all about. It's my belief that a bold step in reconstruction is what is needed to cause this entire country to be less of a sanctuary for terrorists.
STEIN : The Americans hope that military reconstruction teams will lead the way into areas considered unsafe, and that aid workers will follow. But on this day, the office of the Gardez PRT, housed in the centre of town, in the governor's office, was closed, due to security concerns. The people of Gardez have not been won over.
REPORTER: What do you think about what the Americans are doing here?
MAN IN GARDEZ (Translation): The Americans should help us build roads and schools. We need security from looters and bandits, to get on with life. We want to walk in safety and the cars to move freely. Last night there were many rocket attacks. We don't know who fired them. We are poor people. There's no security at all. We want to be safe.
REPORTER: So the Americans have rebuilt some schools. Is that a good thing or not?
MAN IN GARDEZ (Translation): Just two schools, that's all. You can see they rebuilt roads and bridges. I'm a driver, but because of lack of security I'm too scared to drive. If I drove I'd be robbed of my vehicle. I'd be harassed. You call that security?
STEIN : The military's involvement in reconstruction has angered many aid workers, who say it's placing their lives at risk.
SALLY AUSTIN, CARE INTERNATIONAL: Our couple of concerns are that (a), this will not improve security. They have to focus on security, like working with the army and the police. And also by getting involved in reconstruction, they are blurring the differentiation between NGOs and the military. The coalition, the PRTs, are still involved in tracking of al-Qa'ida. They are not a neutral force in Afghanistan.
REPORTER: So when you hear what happened with the man from the ICRC, when you hear about that incident, do you believe that that might be an example of where it's gone wrong?
SALLY AUSTIN, CARE INTERNATIONAL: I am concerned that it is, that this type of involvement of the coalition in humanitarian work or reconstruction work is compromising our security in Afghanistan.
REPORTER: To the point that more lives could be lost?
SALLY AUSTIN, CARE INTERNATIONAL: To the point that more lives could be lost.
NATIONAL ARMY MARCHING AND SINGING (Translation): We want to rebuild our nation. That's our great joy.
STEIN : These are the first graduates of what's been deemed to be Afghanistan's long-term solution to peace and prosperity - a home-grown national army. So far, only the first few thousand have passed basic training. There are plans to increase that number to 12,000 by the middle of next year. In a country controlled by warlords, the first mission of the national army is to let people know who they are.
ANA PATROL TRUCK (MAN SPEAKS THROUGH MEGAPHONE) (Translation): These people belong to no particular group or leader. This is the national army of the people of Afghanistan.
STEIN : But for as long as every warlord commands a sizable militia, a few thousand soldiers will just be window dressing. The United States International Assistance Force, or ISAF, has its own limitations, which its commander is happy to acknowledge.
REPORTER: In real terms, how can this security battle be won when ISAF is restricted to Kabul? You can win hearts and minds here in Kabul, but it's hardly the whole of Afghanistan.
GENERAL NORBERT VAN HEYST, ISAF COMMANDER: I think you are right but it is basically a political decision. It has to be decided by the Kabul, by the Afghan authorities, meaning the Afghan Government on the one hand and by the, what we call lead nations, that are the political level, actually above ISAF.
STEIN : President Karzai has made repeated requests for financial assistance to extend the reach of the UN military force. But as he discovered in Washington last month, when America turns its attention someplace else, the world stage can be a lonely place. Unable to pay for his nation's civil servants, let alone his new national army, the President's pleas fell on deaf ears.
REPORTER: Do you think America has lost interest in Afghanistan?
AQIL SHAH, INDEPENDENT SECURITY ANALYST: I think it would be fair to say that their commitment to reconstruction and security is being strained, and it's likely that the attention deficit of US policy-makers vis-a-vis Afghanistan is likely to grow, depending on how things in the Middle East turn out.