There was a time not that long ago when Afghanistan was able to feed itself, says Raheem Yaseer of the Center for Afghan Studies at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Irrigated valleys in the mountainous country between Iran, China and Pakistan were lush with crops. Sheep and goats roamed the rugged terrain.

Afghanistan was even able to export grains like corn, wheat, rice and barley, as well as fruits and nuts, Yaseer said.

Decades of war, however, have ravaged Afghanistan. Irrigation canals are ruined. Knowledge of how to make fields green and productive evaporated as new generations of Afghans grew up in the roar of bombs and tanks.

Finally, Afghanistan has a chance to return to agricultural productivity. Thanks to U.S. and international intervention that drove the Taliban from power and created the conditions for a successful election approved by international observers, Afghanistan is on the road to stability.

But, as the visit this week to Nebraska by Afghan President Hamid Karzai made clear, the country still has a long distance to travel to sufficiency and security. Struggling to survive, Afghan farmers have returned to raising poppies, which can be sold for the illegal production of opium.

They need to find better options. The United States can help by sharing resources and the wealth of agricultural knowledge found in places such as Nebraska.

Because of Dr. Thomas Gouttierre, who founded the Center for Afghan Studies at UNO, Nebraska has ties with Afghanistan that stretch back to a more peaceful and prosperous era in the early 1970s. Then the former Soviet Union invaded.

The U.S. backed rebels, and finally the Soviets withdrew. But in an error that became painfully obvious in retrospect, the U.S. government lost interest in Afghanistan. Under the Taliban it became a training ground for terrorists who launched the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

America should learn from that mistake. The risk is that the United States will be distracted by other pressing problems and once again turn its back on Afghanistan now that the immediate threat has been eliminated.

Karzai referred to Afghan's fear of abandonment in a speech in Omaha. "A plea — to remain with Afghanistan … until Afghanistan is able to stand on its own feet," Karzai implored.

As Karzai's entourage toured Harry Knobbe's farming and feedlot operation near West Point, Afghanistan's minister of agriculture fired questions at U.S. agricultural experts about equipment and practices.

Those sorts of exchanges are essential to Afghanistan's future. By helping Afghans turn their fertile valleys green again, Nebraskans and other Americans not only will help Afghans improve their lives, they'll also be making the world a safer place.