The Senlis Council is an organization that deals with the subject of drug addiction and supply issues. They have proposed, for example, the idea of "mainstreaming" the Afghan poppy farmers by buying their crops and reselling them for medical use like a U.S. farm support program. I think this idea is worth looking into, and on the face of it, makes a lot more sense than spraying fields.

Only recently have they started branching out into security issues, and I'm not sure they're that good at it.

The only way the Taliban are going to get into Kabul is the same way al Qaeda gets into Baghdad: sneaking in under cover and in disguise, and planting bombs before running away like hell.

In any battle in Afghanistan where the Taliban has actually stood up with weapons and fought like soldiers, they have been annihilated. They do better against Pakistan troops, but not by much.

More troops could be used, but I doubt I'm going to see a lot of call from liberals for anyone to produce them except the U.S. As I posted earlier, only a few NATO nations are carrying most of the load.

My opinion is that with the progress in Iraq, I'm seeing a media goalpost being shoved to another part of the field. Look for a lot more "Afghanistan quagmire" posts next year unless Iraq turns sour again (possible). They're the same "Afghanistan quagmire" posts that would have occupied the press 24/7 for years if we had never come near Iraq.