Fighting in the Shadow of Iraq

By contrast, in April, the Pentagon reported that 135 American troops died in Iraq, all but nine of them in combat.

Richard H. Kohn, chairman of curriculum in peace, war and defense at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a former Pentagon chief of Air Force history, said Afghanistan has not been "forgotten, but I'd say it's been pushed to the back of people's minds."

Although the invasion of Afghanistan failed to capture or kill bin Laden, Kohn said, the United States did succeed in disrupting al Qaeda's base of operations and routing the Taliban. He argues that the effort in Afghanistan is more important in the war against terrorism than the campaign in Iraq is.

"The campaign in Afghanistan does not require tens of thousands of American troops. The level of operation is very low and very small and very dependent on intelligence and our allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan and so it's just not as visible or dramatic" as Iraq, he said.

Michael Donovan, a research analyst for the Center for Defense Information, a liberal think tank based in Washington, agrees that the war in Afghanistan has been eclipsed by Iraq, but he argues that it is because it is not a priority with the Bush administration.

Afghanistan "doesn't have any oil; it's not strategically located," he said. " . . . If it's fallen off the radar screen, it's because the stakes are not there for the administration."

He warned that the lack of attention to Afghanistan, which never recovered politically and economically from its decade-long war with the former Soviet Union and ensuing civil war, has led to rising instability in recent months, and said it was in the United States' interest not to let Afghanistan fail again.

"We found out that it was not so much a case of state-sponsored terrorism, but a terrorism-sponsored state in Afghanistan, and that could come back to haunt us," Donovan said.

The Pentagon's Romley dismissed suggestions that Afghanistan is heading for a new round of trouble. "The reality is the security situation in Afghanistan has dramatically gotten better over time," he said. The United States and its allies have "killed or captured two-thirds of the al Qaeda organization." He also acknowledged that "there are still terrorist elements in Afghanistan" and that "the war against terrorism is going to be long."

'Bad Mission'

The rugged topography that was once home to al Qaeda poses different kinds of risks to the troops there than those in Iraq. Five men died during a mission in November when their helicopter stalled as it climbed in mountainous terrain east of Bagram Air Base. Seven Marines were killed in March 2003 when their Hercules air tanker grazed a peak and caught fire in Pakistan. One Special Forces soldier fell 25 feet while descending by rope from a helicopter into an enemy cave complex.

From the ground, the troops draw their own comparisons and conclusions. "Urban terrain is about the toughest terrain to fight in," Maj. Michael Stefanchik e-mailed last week from Afghanistan. "Afghanistan doesn't have a whole lot of urban terrain -- a la Najaf -- for terrorists to operate in," he explained. "The firefight in Falluja will no doubt get more notice than the same type engagement on a remote mountain in Afghanistan -- though it is without doubt every bit as dangerous."

A hostile mission in either place always holds danger. Dawn Esposito told Newsday that her son had called her a few days before he was killed to tell her that he was headed out on a "bad mission." Lagman also called his mother shortly before taking off, but did not let on that he was embarking on a dangerous assignment, said his father, Joaquin Lagman.

Lagman said his son never complained about military life.

"He liked it; he loves adventure," said Lagman, whose older son also served in the Army. "He told me he wanted to finish his career in the military and then become a recruiter. He would say, 'Ma, we will retire in Hawaii and buy a house.' " Lagman said his son was supposed to return from Afghanistan in January, but his tour was extended to May.