AP Photo

It minced no words, the Taliban, in the leaflets that it scattered across southern Afghanistan last weekend. In one of the missives, the Taliban threatened to cut off the noses and ears of anyone who dared to vote in Thursday's presidential election. Another leaflet said that anyone whose fingers were stained with ink -- a sign that someone has voted -- risked losing those, too. A third said "respected residents" should think twice about entering polling booths because they would risk becoming "a victim of our operations." Don't vote, in other words, or we'll blow you up.

It was a stark message, but in one sense a very useful one. Sometimes, when one stares too long at Afghanistan, all one sees...