Hello,

My apologies for the long pause. I was in the middle of an operation near Kandahar and had to keep communications down lest I jeopardize the mission. I'll write about the operation later this week when I am confident it is wrapping up. I sat in on the mission briefs so I don't want to accidentally divulge any sensitive information.

I've had a lot of questions about Carolletta Gall's article on Afghanistan. In my opinion, she is giving the absolute worst case scenario. There are problems with Taliban reinfiltration, but she greatly exaggerates the Taliban's power and influence, in my opinion and that of of my military and civilian contacts here on the ground. From what I have seen down here, the government is working to extend its influence, as are NATO forces. I am working on an article about this and hope to have it published in The Weekly Standard.

I've attached some photos of the convoy up to FOB Martello. The Canadian troops have been great. I am working on heading back up north to Kabul soon, as travel in the country is difficult. Air transport assets are not as readily available here as they were in Iraq. If I have a few days free, I will be heading to Mazar-i-Sharif with some friends. The news talks about all of the bad here in Afghanistan, but there is a lot of good going on here as well, and I'll get to see that first hand.

Best wishes,

Bill Roggio