It's about time!

The Bush administration has always had some trying "allies." First there was Saudi Arabia, home to 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers and one of the world's worst violators of human rights.

Then there's Russia, whose ex-KGB president offered to build Iran nuclear reactors. On Sunday, Pakistan joined the list, with one twist: Bush told them they had to change.

Well, not Bush himself; Vice President Dick Cheney arrived for a meeting with Pakistani President Parvez Musharraf on Monday, and his appearance has made world headlines since.

During the 2001 war in Afghanistan, the U.S. had to fly over Pakistan so it could bomb Taliban and Al Qaeda troops fighting the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance army.

American, NATO and Pakistani troops have been working together since then to try to find and kill Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters, whose bases are located in the tribally-governed territories on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Despite the joint efforts, Stephen Kappes, director of the CIA, claims the Taliban and Al Qaeda are stronger than ever and are continuing to operate from Pakistan.

The problem is that the Pakistani government claims it does not fully control the regions that the Taliban and Al Qaeda troops are operating out of, and that it is doing all it can to fight the radical Islamic rebel groups.

No one knows whether or not Pakistan is doing all that it can to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzi, claims certain people in the Pakistani government are actually helping the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces by providing them with funding, weapons and ammunition.

Pakistan is the second largest recipient of U.S. military and humanitarian aid, behind only Israel. The thought that U.S. weapons could be getting into the hands of Taliban members who will then use them against American troops has startled many on Capitol Hill.

Senate and House Democrats are demanding that the U.S. see better results in Pakistan's efforts at fighting Al Qaeda before the U.S. government continues to dole out foreign aid checks to a government that can't even control its own citizens.

Musharraf is in a difficult position.

He knows if he clamps down too hard on the Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in his country, he could upset enough Pakistanis in the border areas that they might attempt to overthrow him in a coup. Musharraf himself came to power in a coup in 1999, and it's likely that the prospect of him losing power in the same way is somewhere in the back — or front — of his mind.

The U.S. needs to do more than simply ask the Pakistani government to do more to stop the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces building up on the border with Afghanistan; it needs to focus its attention back on Afghanistan — the War on Terror's forgotten front.

The U.S. has 150,000 troops in Iraq but there are only 33,000 combined U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

American soldiers don't need to die in the middle of an Iraqi civil war between Shiites and Sunnis; whichever religious sect wins in Iraq will sell us their oil anyway.

The Bush administration can urge Pakistan to do more, but it should be careful what it wishes for if it doesn't want to also overthrow the Musharraf government.

In the meantime, the U.S. should be sending more troops to Afghanistan in preparation for the Taliban and Al Qaeda spring offenses.

Bush better start preparing if he wants to even have a shot at winning his War on Terror.