ASIANBEAT NEWS SPECIAL!

The killing of Osama bin Laden in a firefight with U.S. special forces Sunday would seem to be one of the rare recent "champagne moments" in U.S. foreign policy. But U.S. national security officials and experts were muted in discussing this triumph, opting instead to stress the challenges the United States continues to face from violent Islamist extremism--and to observe that those challenges are nowhere more confounding than in Afghanistan.

"Once the dust settles, there are so few apparently al Qaeda left and their spiritual leader is now dead , that it will raise questions about, what are we really doing in Afghanistan," former deputy secretary of State Richard Armitage told The Envoy Monday. "Intelligence officials have recently said there are less than 100 al Qaeda left. Does this justify having 140,000 [U.S.-led] troops in Afghanistan?"

Armitage and other U.S. regional experts said American policy makers are going to have to take some time--and a good deal of deliberation--to answer that question.

"Obviously, the Taliban has launched their spring offensive and it's unclear exactly what kind of firepower it has," a U.S. official who works on Afghanistan told The Envoy Monday on condition of anonymity.

But the "tie-in" between Afghan insurgents and Osama bin Laden "has always been a bit overhyped in terms of linkages," the U.S. official said. "The administration has said publicly that there are only 90 or so remaining members of al Qaeda. These guys who are carrying out attacks in Afghanistan are not necessarily getting their marching orders from bin Laden."

"Most Taliban members are not fighting for a greater cause," he continued. "Most are fighting because they are jobless and the Taliban pays them."

Other analysts point out there are some broader strategic opportunities opening up for the United States in the region now. "The death of Osama bin Laden provides an opportunity for Pakistan to eliminate its support for the Afghan Taliban and materially affect the length and course of the war in Afghanistan," John Nagl, president of the Center for New American Security and a former senior U.S. military officer and specialist on counterinsurgency, told The Envoy.

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