Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan, couldn't have been more right when he recently declared that Afghanistan was tougher than Iraq. But this declaration in and of itself does not reveal anything new other than to emphasize a state of factual existence long ignored by the previous administration. President George W. Bush, after unseatting the Taliban from power because of their haboring of the al-Qaeda terrorists who had incinerated 3,000 Americans including foregn nationals, out of the blue decided to divert his attention to Iraq instead of pursuing al-Qaeda inside Afghnistan and along its borders with Pakistan. The result was the consolidation of the Taliban forces against the Karzai-led (now) downright corrupt Afghan government. The seriousness of the situation was compounded by the entrenchment of al-Qaeda within the tribal areas along the borders in question. Now the Obama Administration has three things to do as a matter of priority: Obliterate Taliban within Afghan borders and stablilize the country to allow for government reforms and perhaps a democratic change of government, provide military training to the Afghans so that the defence of their own country should be in their hands, deploy special forces as well as the CIA for the collection of intelligence for the systematic targeting of al-Qaeda and those who are supporting it. As the Pakistan security forces are al-Qaeda-infested, there will be a need for its cleansing or a creation of a supplementary, but uncorrupted Pakistani security wing whose mission would be to work in collaboration with the Afghan forces to purge off al-Qaeda from the tribal areas, painstakingly utilizing American-provided intelligence as well as one provided by the Pakistani intelligence. The American military cannot be deployed in tribal areas without a backlash that will be at cross-purposes with the US Afghan mission.