Afghanistan is on the verge of falling apart.

A report released last week by the British Parliament concludes that without more troops on the ground and more aid resources, the country is likely to “implode.”

In the United States’ haste to invade Iraq, the repair of Afghanistan has fallen out of the policy spotlight and off the front page. While toppling the Taliban received widespread support both in this country and from allies in Europe, the job of rebuilding the country has been left unfinished.

Warlords remain powerful outside the capital city of Kabul, opium production is increasing and remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaida remain free, causing havoc and threatening the prospects for a new, democratic government.

Doctors Without Borders, an international relief agency that has been in Afghanistan for more than two decades, said last week that it’s pulling out. Aid workers and election volunteers are among those who have been assassinated.

The United States leads about 20,000 troops in Afghanistan who are searching for Osama bin Laden, and NATO has about 6,500 peacekeepers there. But it’s not enough. The lack of security, the report says, has allowed terrorists to regroup and to plan new assaults on the West.

Unfortunately, the United States doesn’t have enough troops. Already more than a third of National Guard and Reserve troops are committed, and violence in Iraq, which has continued unabated since the hand-over of power at the end of June, requires the attention of at least the 140,000 U.S. soldiers there.

New attention must be given to Afghanistan. It’s clear the United States has little left to give. That means the Bush administration, hat in hand, must lead the diplomatic effort to secure more resources from NATO and Europe. Similar efforts have failed to draw allies into Iraq. Hopefully, efforts on behalf of Afghanistan would be more successful.

The Taliban was toppled with a minimum of U.S. ground forces, but the peace has proven more difficult than the war, just like in Iraq. The gains that have been made are at risk.

Where’s the money?

While the successes of the war in Afghanistan are at risk from inattention, some U.S. activities in Iraq are receiving unwanted, extra attention.

An audit of the Coalition Provisional Authority has prompted at least 27 criminal investigations. “The CPA created policies and regulations which, although well-intended, did not establish funds control and accountability over $600 million” and were subject to fraud, waste and abuse, according to the report by the CPA’s inspector general.

We know now that planning for the invasion of Iraq began as early as 2001 and maybe before, but the CPA inspector general confirms once again that planning for after the invasion was missing. There is no good reason that proper accounting controls were not in place before the CPA began spending millions of taxpayer dollars.

The Los Angeles Times reports that equipment can’t be accounted for, that some U.S. government officials used their power to line their own pockets and that contractors charged the government for work and workers that didn’t exist.

In addition to the $600 million from the United States, more than $20 billion from Iraqi oil revenue passed through accounts that did not have proper oversight or accounting procedures in place. There’s no wonder a large number of Iraqis said that we were stealing their oil.

The CPA inspector general only started work in January. That work must continue, and people must be held accountable for their financial misdeeds. That’s the only way to restore another piece of our fatigued reputation.