The first job that the United States took on in the war on terrorism in 2001 was the cleanup of Afghanistan, the home base of al-Qaida, and its host government, the Taliban.

Not only is that job not completed, but there are also clear indications that Afghanistan is sliding back into the disorder that produced the Taliban and al-Qaida there in the first place.

The potential of Afghanistan for tripping up the strong and mighty is demonstrated by the experience of the British with the Afghans in the 19th century and that of the Soviet Union with them in the 1980s.

The Afghans are a fractious and divided people, who resist any efforts of foreigners to control or steer them. They are prepared to accept help from outside powers to pursue their own enterprises. However, they expect the outsiders to keep paying, and not to try to move into running the show or get in the way of Afghans fighting among themselves.

So there the United States is, three years later, with 20,000 troops in country, planning to add 2,000 more to try to make the Oct. 9 presidential elections work. America's favored candidate, interim president Hamid Karzai, has 17 opponents for the office. He is unable to campaign in person in the country from a quite justified fear of assassination. A rally scheduled for him Thursday in Gardez had to be canceled when a missile was fired at his helicopter.

Osama bin Laden may be in Afghanistan or in nearby Pakistan. He could also be dead, but what is clear is that, whatever his status, both al-Qaida and the Taliban are still very much alive and regaining ground in Afghanistan.

The United States and other donors have contributed to some useful reconstruction of Afghanistan, including a road from Kabul, the capital, to the former Taliban and al-Qaida center, Kandahar. Yet America's approach to rebuilding the country was half-hearted and stripped of resources and forces by the war in Iraq.

Whether a wholehearted American approach to political and economic reconstruction and development in Afghanistan would have turned back the resurgent elements of al-Qaida and the Taliban may now never be known.

The next test of U.S. policy will be Afghanistan's elections next month. It would be nice to be optimistic, but the United States shouldn't bet on the outcome. Mr. Karzai's staying alive through them will be an accomplishment in itself.