A trip over to the Long War Journal will tell you that US forces are working with Pakistan to clean out the no man’s land in Pakistan, a very delicate situation. They’ve captured and killed some pretty big fish and eliminated quite a few enemy forces that are trapsing back and forth across the Afghan/Pak border to attack Afghan villages. Looks like our guys, under the President’s leadership, and those he put in charge, are doing their part for the Afghanis, Karzai well knows this.

Obama has asked Gates to stay on, apparently he has few problems with the President’s Sec/Def. We shall see if he makes any headway with NATO and the UN with getting more of *their* troops over there or, at least convince those who are there to ramp it up. I know fighting outside the perimeter of their bases or fighting at night, or just fighting can be tough, but so far *tough* is done by our forces, the Canadians, Aussies and very few others.

Word posted a remarkable essay that a French soldier wrote about our outstanding troops fighting in Afghanistan, read it. Not only are our troops a shining example of what all militaries should and could be, they aren’t just protecting the Afghans, they are also protecting coalition forces that just don’t seem to be carrying their weight.

Karzai also repeated his demands that the international forces stop causing civilian casualties in their operations against insurgents and focus their efforts on militant bases in Pakistan, his spokesman said.

“He emphasised that the ‘war on terror’ cannot be fought in Afghan villages. It must be taken to (militant) sanctuaries and safehavens. That is why we are having civilian casualties — because we are ignoring the source of the problem,” Hamidzada said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hxINPerZzWJAHV2ZBEufEjk6F_yw

With elections coming for him next year, he’s now under pressure to do something about the mounting violence, which in part explains his demand for a time-line.

If, as reported, the Taliban is back and must be strongly engaged to safeguard the present government, is Karzai now willing to negotiate, and even willing to kick the U.S. out no matter what, because the situation is so dire –in a 7 year war?

Did Bush take his eye off Afghanistan for too long?

A former communications intercept operator says U.S. intelligence snooped on the private lives of two of America’s most important allies in fighting al Qaeda: British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Iraq’s first interim president, Ghazi al-Yawer.

David Murfee Faulk told ABCNews.com… he saw and read a file on Blair’s “private life” and heard “pillow talk” phone calls of al-Yawer when he worked as an Army Arab linguist assigned to a secret NSA facility at Fort Gordon, Georgia between 2003 and 2007.

Last month, Faulk and another former military intercept operator assigned to the NSA facility triggered calls for an investigation when they revealed U.S. intelligence intercepted the private phone calls of American journalists, aid workers and soldiers stationed in Iraq.

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=6321173