Afstan: Don't tell M. Dion

Might it just be possible that the CF will be involved?

The top [US] military commander in the Mideast [and much more] said Wednesday that he does not expect Taliban forces in Afghanistan to launch a spring offensive this year.

If anything, he said, he sees the momentum continuing to swing in the direction of coalition forces.

"The spring offensive is going to be by our people, as they move out and take advantage of the situation that they helped create through their good works there in the fall of last year," Adm. William Fallon told the House Armed Services Committee.

The U.S. is sending another 3,200 Marines to Afghanistan, in part to stave off any uptick in violence that might come with the warmer weather.

Fallon said the influx of troops will give Gen. Dan McNeil, head of forces in Afghanistan, the "shot in the arm he needs to really go after the security, particularly in the south, where he intends to deploy those forces."..

Fallon said that despite an increase in violence last year, coalition forces still have degraded the Taliban's ability to attack. The rise in suicide attacks, while alarming, is confined to about 10 percent of the total districts in Afghanistan, he said...

Update: The Globe and Mail, naturally, buries the story in an IN BRIEF piece. But at least they ran it. As far as I can see the National Post, Toronto Star and Ottawa Citizen all ignored the story completely.