Peter Baker | Moscow | July 3

NYT - The Russian government has agreed to let American troops and weapons bound for Afghanistan fly over Russian territory, officials on both sides said Friday. The arrangement will provide an important new corridor for the United States military as it escalates efforts to win the eight-year war.

BBC - A senior Obama administration official has told the BBC that Russia has agreed to let US troops bound for the war in Afghanistan fly through its airspace. The deal, which opens up an important new corridor for the US military, is to be officially announced when President Barack Obama visits Moscow next week. Speaking separately, a Kremlin official confirmed a deal was on the table but suggested it referred to weapons only. The reported agreement marks a major development in US-Russian relations.

July 3

BBC - At least 10 militants have died after missiles were fired by a suspected US drone aircraft at a Taliban target in Pakistan, intelligence officials say. Unnamed officials said it was an attack on a militant training facility in the South Waziristan area. It took place in an area on the Afghan border controlled by Pakistan's top Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.

Helmand Valley | July 2

AFP - US Marines have launched a massive offensive into the Taliban heartlands of southern Afghanistan as President Barack Obama's new war plan swings into action.
_{A US Marine from 5th Battalion 10th Marines patrols with a member of an Afghan border guard unit in the desert of the lower Helmand River valley. Picture: Reuters}

Operation Khanjar (Strike of the Sword), involving nearly 4,000 US forces as well as 650 Afghan police and soldiers, the Marine Expeditionary Brigade said, announcing Thursday's pre-dawn launch of the drive in southern Helmand province. Deploying about 50 aircraft, the air and land assault would push troops into insurgent strongholds in what officers on the ground said was the biggest offensive airlift by the Marines since Vietnam.

“What makes Operation Khanjar different from those that have occurred before is the massive size of the force introduced, the speed at which it will insert,” Brigadier General Larry Nicholson said in a Marine statement.

NYT - “The enemy has chosen to withdraw rather than engage for the most part,” said Lt. Abe Sipe, a spokesman for the unit, according to The Associated Press. “We had a couple of heat casualties, but not deemed serious in nature at this time.”

<sub>* Pakistani troops move to block Taliban fleeing US Operation
* 2 UK soldiers killed in IED explosion
* US opens 'major Afghan offensive'
* 'US Soldier Seized' Amid Major Offensive
* US Marines storm south in major Afghan offensive</sub>

Nancy A. Youssef & Hashim Shukoor | Kabul | June 30

McClatchy - The Afghan government Monday blamed U.S.-led coalition forces for the killing of Kandahar's police chief and criminal investigations director on coalition forces, saying the Afghan guards that shot them to death were working for and trained by the coalition.

U.S. officials in Washington, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because classified matters are involved, told McClatchy that American intelligence agencies are investigating whether some of the guards may have been among the Afghans whom the CIA has recruited, trained and paid to help fight the Taliban, al Qaida and drug trafficking.

Coalition officials in Afghanistan said only that no U.S. or coalition forces were involved in the killings, that the guards weren't acting "on behalf of U.S. or international forces" and that the killings in Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city and the heart of its opium poppy-growing region, were an "Afghan-on-Afghan" incident.

** Police chief killed in south Afghan clash-officials

The new approach to fighting the Taliban calls for building up local Afghan forces – militias and tribal levies. While this is a welcome departure from the neglect and reliance on massive firepower of past years, the approach will face many obstacles.

Local forces, from the Soviet occupation to the present, have not worked well with the Afghan national army. Preferring to remain in their districts, many Afghans choose service in local militaries, presenting personnel problems for the army. Militias are resented for draining military resources better allocated, in the army’s view, to them. Attempts over the years to amalgamate militias and army have met with failure.

Forty years ago, I travelled to Medellin, Colombia with my father, carrying with me a cassette player and a handful of cassettes. Among them was a Jimi Hendrix tape. Playing it for the kids there, one enthusiastically related; "Ah! Yes! Cha cha cha!" Not even "rock and roll!", but 'cha cha cha'... (??!) That really clued me in on a very unexpectedly wide cultural chasm, albeit bridged nonetheless. Mostly.
    This came to mind as I learned tonight of 'Afghan Star'... -Only I was the one figuratively saying 'Ah! Yes! Cha cha cha!'...

Phil Stewart and Daniel Flynn | TRIESTE, Italy | June 27

Reuters - U.S. reverses Afghan drug policy

Sat Jun 27, 2009 10:44am EDT

By Phil Stewart and Daniel Flynn

TRIESTE, Italy (Reuters) - Washington is to dramatically overhaul its Afghan anti-drug strategy, phasing out opium poppy eradication, the U.S. envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan told allies on Saturday.

Richard Holbrooke, attending a G8 conference on stabilizing Afghanistan, also discussed efforts to support its August 20 election. Washington has nearly doubled its troops to combat a growing Taliban insurgency and provide security for the vote.

New York | June 20

NYT - David Rohde, a New York Times reporter who was kidnapped by the Taliban, escaped Friday night and made his way to freedom after more than seven months of captivity in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

David Rohde, a reporter captured last fall by the Taliban, interviewed residents of the Helmand region of Afghanistan in 2007.

Mr. Rohde, along with a local reporter, Tahir Ludin, and their driver, Asadullah Mangal, was abducted outside Kabul, Afghanistan, on Nov. 10 while he was researching a book.

Mr. Rohde was part of The Times’s reporting team that won a Pulitzer Prize this spring for coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan last year.

Saeed Shah | Islamabad | June 18

McClatchy - As Pakistan pursues delicate negotiations before launching a major military operation in South Waziristan, the United States launched a drone strike Thursday that could offend a warlord the government here is trying to win over, analysts said.

The bombing exposed the divergent priorities of Washington and Islamabad. The United States strongly backs the Pakistani offensive announced Sunday against warlord Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban. Washington also wants to destroy the leadership of the Afghan Taliban and its Pakistani allies, however, some of whom are potential allies for the Pakistani government.

One such potential ally, who just came under attack, is warlord Maulvi Nazir, whom Pakistan is courting in hopes he'll stay out of the fight, according to a senior Pakistani security official who declined to be identified as he wasn't authorized to discuss the issue.

Mehsud is also seeking a pact with Nazir, however, in what officials and militants described as a fierce competition with the government.

June 18

McChrystal Looks to Spin Afghan Civilian Deaths Problem

Analysis by Gareth Porter - At his confirmation hearings two weeks ago, Gen. Stanley McChrystal said reducing civilian deaths from air strikes in Afghanistan was "strategically decisive" and declared his "willingness to operate in ways that minimise casualties or damage, even when it makes our task more difficult."

Some McChrystal supporters hope he will rein in the main source of civilian casualties: Special Operations Forces (SOF) units that carry out targeted strikes against suspected "Taliban" on the basis of doubtful intelligence and raids that require air strikes when they get into trouble.

But there are growing indications that his command is preparing to deal with the issue primarily by seeking to shift the blame to the Taliban through more and better propaganda operations and by using more high-tech drone intelligence aircraft to increase battlefield surveillance rather than by curbing the main direct cause of civilian casualties.

** WORLD EXCLUSIVE: New Revelations About The Torture Of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi

Iraqi oil minister accused of mother of all sell-outs

Furious protests threaten to undermine the Iraqi government's controversial plan to give international oil companies a stake in its giant oilfields in a desperate effort to raise declining oil production and revenues.

In less than two weeks, on 29 and 30 June, the Iraqi Oil Minister, Hussain Shahristani, will award service contracts to the world's largest oil companies to develop six of Iraq's largest oil-producing fields over 20 to 25 years.

Senior figures within the Iraqi oil industry have denounced the deal. Fayad al-Nema, the director of the South Oil Company, which comes under the Oil Ministry and produces most of Iraq's crude, said on the weekend: "The service contracts will put the Iraqi economy in chains and shackle its independence for the next 20 years. They squander Iraq's revenues."

Please post new stories and comments about the coalition's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on this thread. Prior update threads are here

CNAS' third annual conference, "Striking a Balance: A New American Security," will be streamed live starting at 8:30 AM EST.

8:30-8:45 AM - INTRODUCTION AND OPENING REMARKS

The Honorable Dr. Richard Danzig
Chairman of the Board, Center for a New American Security

Ambassador R. Nicholas Burns
Professor, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Board of Directors, CNAS

8:45-9:45 AM - KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Dr. John A. Nagl (INTRODUCTION)
President, Center for a New American Security

General David H. Petraeus, USA
Commander, U.S. Central Command

When will we have an Afghanistan policy?
Yet another review ordered of Afghan policy — fifth this year

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates Monday gave the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan 60 days to conduct another review of the American strategy there, the fifth since President Barack Obama took office less than five months ago.

The Defense Department announced Monday that Gates has ordered the new U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and his deputy, Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, to submit a review of the U.S. strategy within 60 days of their arrival in Afghanistan.

The National Security Council, the U.S. Central Command and the Joint Chiefs of Staff each have already reviewed the U.S. Afghan strategy, and civilian departments conducted a separate interagency review. On March 27, shortly after those reviews were completed, the administration announced a new strategy that called for defeating al Qaida, reducing civilian casualties and eliminating terrorist safe havens.

The administration promised that within weeks it would establish benchmarks to measure progress in Afghanistan. On Monday, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters that the administration is still drafting those benchmarks.

** US Marines fan out across dangerous Afghan south

Operation Iraqi Stephen: Going Commando

U.S. Troops enjoy equal opportunity humor from the Colbert Report.

As Stephen Colbert sits behind a desk propped up by sandbags painted to look like the American flag, he declares the “we won the Iraq war.”

According to AOL News, Colbert is making history this week by being the first to broadcast a series of a taped show from an Iraq tour intended for entertaining the U. S. troops serving in Iraq.

“It must be nice her in Iraq because I understand some of you keep coming back again and again,” Colbert joked, “You’ve earned so many frequent flyer miles, you’ve earned a free ticket to Afghanistan.”

His first guest, General Ray Odierno received a videotaped order from President Obama to shave Colbert’s head and he gladly accepted. Gen. Odierno started shaving Colbert’s head and it was then finished by a stylist

** US court: Iraq immune from Saddam-era lawsuits
** U.S. Frees Suspect in Killing of 5 G.I.’s

Please post new stories and comments about the coalition's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on this thread. Prior update threads are here

June 1

Army fury at refusal to bolster Afghan campaign

Britain's most senior military commanders have warned Gordon Brown that unless he sends more troops to Afghanistan Britain will lose credibility with its American allies, The Independent has learnt.

Senior generals are bemused that the Prime Minister has turned down the advice of his own Defence Secretary, John Hutton, that a larger force should be sent to Afghanistan following the withdrawal from Iraq. Now they have warned Number 10 that the reputation of the armed forces will suffer in the eyes of senior American commanders unless Mr Brown authorises an autumn surge in troop numbers. Such a surge, they say, would signal Britain's intent to "pull its weight" in the Afghan conflict by plugging the shortfall in the multinational force. (If I was a Brit I would wonder who General Dannatt works for ;) ~ tina)

Iraq's Kurdish region to export oil for first time

Iraq's self-ruled Kurdish region will begin exporting crude oil for the first time on June 1, piping up to 90,000 bpd to its neighbours in a landmark step for the area, officials said on Sunday.

Companies chosen by the regional government will pump oil from two Kurdish fields via an Iraqi pipeline to Turkey with the consent of Baghdad in a step that could pave the way to ending bitter domestic feuds over Iraq's oil wealth.

Initial exports will be around 40,000 barrels per day from the Taq Taq field in the province of Arbil and another 50,000 bpd from the Tawke field in Dohuk, company officials told AFP.

** Is Halliburton forgiven and forgotten?

Please post new stories and comments about the coalition's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on this thread. Prior update threads are here

Saeed Shah & Warren P. Strobel | Islamabad | May 27

McClatchy Newspapers - The U.S. is embarking on a $1 billion crash program to expand its diplomatic presence in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, another sign that the Obama administration is making a costly, long-term commitment to war-torn South Asia, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

The White House has asked Congress for — and seems likely to receive — $736 million to build a new U.S. embassy in Islamabad, along with permanent housing for U.S. government civilians and new office space in the Pakistani capital.

The scale of the projects rivals the giant U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, which was completed last year after construction delays at a cost of $740 million.

Senior State Department officials said the expanded diplomatic presence is needed to replace overcrowded, dilapidated and unsafe facilities and to support a "surge" of civilian officials into Afghanistan and Pakistan ordered by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Other major projects are planned for Kabul, Afghanistan; and for the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Peshawar. In Peshawar, the U.S. government is negotiating the purchase of a five-star hotel that would house a new U.S. consulate.

In February the government of Pakistan and the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) came to an agreement whereby the government accepted the latter’s imposition of Islamic law in parts of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) in exchange for a ceasefire. Few thought the agreement would last long and indeed it soon fell apart – because of government support for US Predator strikes, according to TTP leader Baitullah Mehsud. This raises new questions about the future of Pakistan and US/NATO operations in Afghanistan.

On announcing the end of the agreement, Mehsud sent his bands south, toward the political and military centers of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. In so doing, he let passion override strategy and badly damaged the TTP cause. Their thrust into the Punjab heartland accomplished what has only rarely and ephemerally happened in Pakistan: agreement between civilian and military leadership. The rancorous politicians and generals saw the sortie as a challenge to the existence of Pakistan, and struck back.

Pepe Escobar | Asia Times

Happy Days are here again. It's as if the George W Bush years in Afghanistan had never left, with Washington still wallowing in an intelligence-free environment. A surge is coming to town - just like the one General David Petraeus engineered in Iraq. A Bush proconsul (Zalmay Khalilzad) wants to run the show - again. A hardliner (General Stanley McChrystal) is getting ready to terrorize any Pashtun in sight. A new mega-base is sprouting in the "desert of death" in the southern Afghan province of Helmand. And as in Bush time, no one's talking pipeline, or the (invisible) greatest regional prize: Pakistani Balochistan.
Bush's "global war on terror" (GWOT) may have been rebranded, under new management, "overseas contingency operation" (OCO). But history in Afghanistan continues to repeat itself as farce - or as an opium bad trip.

Pepe Escobar | Asia Times

Washington is focused on the Pakistani province of Balochistan like a laser. In an evolving strategy of balkanization of the country - increasingly popular in Washington foreign-policy circles - Balochistan has very attractive assets: natural wealth, scarce population and a port, which is key for Pipelineistan plans

Happy Days are here again. It's as if the George W Bush years in Afghanistan had never left, with Washington still wallowing in an intelligence-free environment. A surge is coming to town - just like the one General David Petraeus engineered in Iraq. A Bush proconsul (Zalmay Khalilzad) wants to run the show - again. A hardliner (General Stanley McChrystal) is getting ready to terrorize any Pashtun in sight. A new mega-base is sprouting in the "desert of death" in the southern Afghan province of Helmand. And as in Bush time, no one's talking pipeline, or the (invisible) greatest regional prize: Pakistani Balochistan.

Bush's "global war on terror" (GWOT) may have been rebranded, under new management, "overseas contingency operation" (OCO). But history in Afghanistan continues to repeat itself as farce - or as an opium bad trip.

May 23

Maliki Wants To Walk Back Sunni Amnesty Law ~ Newshoggers

_{** Two Pentagon workers die in Baghdad's Green Zone
** Baghdad has new security layer: street gates
** Iranian, Afghan, Pakistani Presidents to Meet Tomorrow
** Troops kill 60 rebels, make largest Afghan drugs bust
** Going for Broke: Six Ways the Af-Pak War Is Expanding}

May 21

3 US soldiers killed by roadside bomb in Baghdad

Three American soldiers were killed and nine others wounded Thursday in a bombing attack in Baghdad, the U.S. military said, in a burst of violence only weeks before American combat troops are due to leave Iraqi cities.

Iraqi militiamen frustrated that promised jobs haven't materialized

Al Qaida in Iraq fighters are returning to this dusty desert town and attacking the Sunni Muslim militias that once subdued them, and they may have infiltrated the makeshift police force

US soldiers charged over Spanish journalist's death

A Spanish judge on Thursday revived murder charges against three US soldiers over the killing a Spanish television cameraman during the shelling of a Baghdad hotel in 2003.

_{** Is Iraq's enigmatic Sadr headed for a comeback?
** KBR's chief defends electrical work in Iraq
** Historic handoff puts Minnesota troops in charge of 9 Iraqi provinces
** Arms Sent by U.S. May Be Falling Into Taliban Hands}

U.S. Pullout a Condition in Afghan Peace Talks

Leaders of the Taliban and other armed groups battling the Afghan government are talking to intermediaries about a potential peace agreement, with initial demands focused on a timetable for a withdrawal of American troops, according to Afghan leaders here and in Pakistan.

The talks, if not the withdrawal proposals, are being supported by the Afghan government. The Obama administration, which has publicly declared its desire to coax “moderate” Taliban fighters away from armed struggle, says it is not involved in the discussions and will not be until the Taliban agree to lay down their arms. But nor is it trying to stop the talks, and Afghan officials believe they have tacit support from the Americans.

_{** Afghanistan seeks 400,000 soldiers, police
** Does war promote the Dignity of Afghan women?
** Canadian Supreme Court to say whether it will hear Afghan detainee case
** 'Model' villages around Kandahar aim to render Taliban 'irrelevant'}

Please post new stories and comments about the coalition's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on this thread. Prior update threads are here

UPDATED | May 10

MAY 19

Zalmay Khalilzad wants to be CEO of Afghanistan

Zalmay Khalilzad, who was President George W. Bush’s ambassador to Afghanistan, could assume a powerful, unelected position inside the Afghan government under a plan he is discussing with Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, according to senior American and Afghan officials.

Mr. Khalilzad, an American citizen who was born in Afghanistan, had considered challenging Mr. Karzai for the presidency in elections scheduled for this summer.

But Mr. Khalilzad missed the May 8 filing deadline, and the American and Afghan officials say that he has been talking with Mr. Karzai for several weeks about taking on a job that the two have described as the chief executive officer of Afghanistan.

_{** Afghanistan says no plan to put U.S. ex-envoy in charge
** US mil: Afghan contractors violated gun policy
** Commentary: How will we measure success in Afghanistan?
** Taliban Influx Threatens ‘Hot Months’ in Afghanistan}

Anthony H Cordesman: The new forgotten war

Despite the violence of the past few weeks, it is Iraq that now risks becoming the "forgotten war.'' Iraq has become both a perceived "victory'' and a war that many Americans and members of Congress would like to forget. As a result, the nation's leaders may rush toward the "exit'' without a strategy -- and lose both the ongoing war and the peace that could follow.

It's all too easy to forget that the U.S. "won'' in Vietnam. Americans left having defeated the Viet Cong, having forced North Vietnam to halt its offensives -- and having gotten a Nobel Prize for the settlement. The Americans created something approaching a functioning democracy, a reasonable level of development, and Vietnamese forces that seemed able to defend both without our support. It only took a few years, however, to show how costly an exit without a strategy can be.

There are limits to what can be done in Iraq. The Americans cannot force the Iraqis into political accommodation. They cannot develop their economy for them, and cannot act as a lasting substitute for effective Iraqi forces or the creation of local security and a rule of law. But there are steps that can and should be taken to complete the "clear, hold and build'' strategy that has changed the war so dramatically since 2007.

_{** US moves shooting suspect from Iraq
** Iraq rejects Kurdish plans to export gas to Europe
** Turkish companies eye Iraq opportunity}

Please post new stories and comments about the coalition's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on this thread. Prior update threads are here

Jerome Starkey | Kabul | May 16

The Independent - A single American Special Forces group was behind at least three of Afghanistan's worst civilian casualty incidents, The Independent has learnt, raising fundamental questions about their ongoing role in the conflict. Troops from the US Marines Corps' Special Operations Command, or MarSOC, were responsible for calling in air strikes in Bala Boluk, in Farah, last week – believed to have killed more than 140 men, women and children – as well as two other incidents in 2007 and 2008 . . . MarSOC was created three years ago on the express orders of Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary at the time, despite opposition from within the Marine Corps and the wider Special Forces community. An article in the Marine Corps Times described the MarSOC troops as "cowboys" who brought shame on the corps.

Colum Lynch | United Nations | May 13

WaPo - It was 10:30 p.m. in Kabul, and Shkelquim Sina had just e-mailed his wife goodnight when an explosion ripped through his hotel bedroom, obliterating a wall, scorching nearly half his body and leaving the United Nations weapons expert barely clinging to life.

The alleged culprit was not a terrorist attacker but a U.N. colleague: Within 24 hours, Robert Shaw, a former weapons specialist for British intelligence, had been turned over to Afghan authorities by U.N. officials on suspicion of attempting to murder his Albanian colleague.

The October 2006 incident is one of the most egregious alleged crimes to have occurred within the U.N.'s ranks, but the ensuing investigation unraveled, leaving both men with shattered lives and damaged reputations with virtually no hope of having their names cleared.

Car Bombs followed by armed insurgents, multible events, ambushing
reaction forces.

Teams of bombers spark Afghan street battle
Insurgents take government workers hostage, ambush U.S. troops in Khost

KABUL - Teams of suicide bombers and insurgents attacked government buildings in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, sparking running gun battles in a major Afghan city, officials said. Armed insurgents took government workers hostage and ambushed an American quick-reaction force, wounding one U.S. soldier.

At least four security forces, two civilians and an unknown number of militants were killed in the attack, which began around 10 a.m. and raged for hours, a doctor said. But officials cited mass confusion over the multi-pronged attack in Khost city, and the toll was expected to rise.

Elisabeth Bumiller | Washington | May 12

New York Times - [This is excellent news, in my view. BD]

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is replacing the top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, less than a year after he took over, marking a major overhaul in military leadership of a war that has presented President Obama with a worsening national security challenge.

Defense officials said that General McKiernan was removed because of what they described as a conventional approach to what has become one of the most complicated military challenges in American history. He is to be replaced by Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, a former commander of the Joint Special Operations Command who recently ran all special operations in Iraq.

May 8

U.S. Admits Civilians Died in Afghan Raids

United States officials acknowledged Thursday for the first time that at least some of what might be 100 civilian deaths in western Afghanistan had been caused by American bombs. In Afghanistan, residents angrily protested the deaths and demanded that American forces leave the country.

Initial American military reports that some of the casualties might have been caused by Taliban grenades, not American airstrikes, were “thinly sourced,” a Pentagon official in Washington said Thursday, indicating that he was uncertain of their accuracy.

** A giant US military base emerges in Afghanistan
** Gates to boost Afghan war US senior command-report

Ex-soldier could face death over Iraq murders, rape

A former U.S. soldier could face the death penalty after being convicted of raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing her and her family.
Former U.S. soldier Steven Green has been convicted of raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl.

Steven Green was convicted Thursday in a civilian court in Kentucky and will be sentenced Monday.

After more than 10 hours of deliberations, a jury found the former soldier guilty of murder, rape and obstruction of justice, CNN affiliate WPSD-TV in Paducah, Kentucky, reported.

** Iraqi relatives urge death for U.S. rape soldier
** Tension Runs Deep Between Iraqi Government And Awakening Councils
** Northern Iraqi Kurds Say To Start Oil Exports In June

Please post new stories and comments about the coalition's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on this thread. Prior update threads are here

Patrick Cockburn | May 6

The Independent -

Afghanistan’s president may be schmoozing Barack Obama in Washington today, but what of the country he left behind? Patrick Cockburn, winner of this year’s Orwell Prize for journalism, finds a nation fractured by war, bled dry by corruption – and governed by fear

When President Hamid Karzai drove to Kabul airport to fly to America earlier this week, the centre of the Afghan capital was closed down by well-armed security men, soldiers and policemen. On his arrival in Washington he will begin two days of meetings, starting today, with President Barack Obama and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari about their joint efforts to combat the Taliban. Karzai is also to deliver a speech at the Brookings Institution think tank on “effective ways of fighting terrorism.”

The title of his lecture shows a certain cheek. Karzai’s seven years in power since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001 have been notable for his failure to prevent their resurgence. Suppose the president’s motorcade this week had taken a different route and headed, not for the airport, but for the southern outskirts of Kabul, he would soon have experienced the limits of his government’s authority. It ends at a beleaguered police post within a few minutes’ drive of the capital. Drivers heading for the southern provincial capitals of Ghazni, Qalat and Kandahar nervously check their pockets to make sure that they are |carrying no documents linking them to the government.

Of course it is Pakistan's fault ;-)