Doubts grow over US Afghan strategy
It is four years since the fall of the Taleban regime. The United States has spent billions of dollars on its operations in Afghanistan - but what does it have to show for it?

With no end in sight to the insurgency led by remnants of that regime and insecurity still holding back development in large parts of the country, it is a question that many more people are asking. There has been significant political progress, with the election of President Hamid Karzai last year and a new parliament due to convene next month after September's vote. But it is almost as if this is happening in a parallel universe, some say. There is no sign of it translating into peace. As the year nears an end, bombings and shootings continue almost daily in the south and east. Such incidents have claimed at least 1,400 lives in the past year - the highest toll since 2001.

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  thanks to Aron's Israel Peace Weblog