"We can clear an area with Nato troops," said one Nato official. "But without the Afghan forces there to hold it, the Taleban will filter back."

Prime Minister John Howard of Australia, in announcing a doubling of Australias troop strength, still to less than 1,000 compared to the US 32,000 said:

"I just can't and won't put a date on withdrawal and it's got to be conditions-based," he said.

"We can't become hostage to a particular time because we're dealing with people who are prepared to engage in suicide attacks, we are dealing with people who don't value human life the way we do."

It's not that they value life differently, Mr. Howard, they want it more. It's their country, their culture, their land and their religion against which you have declared war. You'd value life differently if the Taliban was bombing Perth and Sydney.

Now, opium production under McBush:

"In 2001, farmers produced more than 400,000 pounds of opium from poppy seeds. Last year, that number grew to more than 13 million pounds. Of Afghanistan's 35 provinces, only six are poppy-free."

Free enterprise and supply-and-demand are thriving under McBush.

Women's rights. We all know how dedicated McBush is to women's rights. The "warlords" mentioned here are the Northern Alliance, McBush's allies in the north. Cheney supports them strongly:

"Warlords have kept an oppressive hand over the people in nearly 80 percent of the country, WAW’s Mamizha Naderi said.

“These are the same people who raped women -- everything they could do against their human rights,” she said. “Now they are in power and supplying the police force. Everyone is afraid, not just women but men.”

Now this one is over 5 years old. Five years since McBush declared Afghanistan free, the Taliban vanquished.

Some CinC.

Arf