Afghanistan Weather Forecast from Yahoo

From the IHT: Obama orders Afghan-Pakistan policy review

President Barack Obama has ordered an interagency review to examine U.S. policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan before a NATO summit in April, the White House said on Tuesday.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer who is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington would head the review.

Riedel would look at both military and non-military aspects of U.S. policy in the region and would report directly to Obama and his national security adviser, Jim Jones, Gibbs told reporters aboard a flight to Florida with Obama.
Bruce Riedel from wikipedia

Bruce Riedel is a Senior Fellow in foreign policy at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy of the Brookings Institution, a former CIA Analyst, a counter-terrorism expert, and an author. He retired in 2006 after 29 years with the Central Intelligence Agency. Riedel served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Near East Affairs on the National Security Council (1997-2002), Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Near East and South Asian Affairs (1995-97), and National Intelligence Officer for Near East and South Asian Affairs at the National Intelligence Council (1993-95). His areas of expertise include counter-terrorism, Arab-Israeli issues, Persian Gulf security and India and Pakistan.
GEN Jones from wikipedia

James Logan Jones Jr. (born 19 December 1943) is the current United States National Security Advisor and a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general.

During his military career, he served as Commander, United States European Command (COMUSEUCOM) and Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) from 2003 to 2006 and as the 32nd Commandant of the Marine Corps from July 1999 to January 2003. Jones retired from the Marine Corps on February 1, 2007, after 40 years of service.
From the 2/9/09 online edition of Der Speigel (in english) By Claus Christian Malzahn Obama Means Blood, Sweat and Tears for Germany


German enthusiasm for the new US administration could soon fade. The Americans made it very clear at the Munich Security Conference that they expect solidarity from their European allies -- and that means blood, sweat and tears.

This year, it's going to be hard to escape the slew of German anniversaries. The list includes the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest 2,000 years ago, the invasion of Poland and the outbreak of World War II 70 years ago, the founding of East and West Germany 60 years ago and the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago. In 2009, hardly any other country in the world will spend so much time intensively examining its own past as Germany.