Afstan: Canadians mentoring, Marines fighting...plus corruption

1) A slide-show with audio by the Globe and Mail's Graeme Smith of Canadians patrolling with the ANA; note a Canadian saying "I don't order the ANA" (1:30 remaining--what's the helicopter shown at the beginning and end?). An earlier post on Canadians mentoring the ANA is here.

2) Marines in combat in southern Helmand province, with photos. Here's a post on the Globe's coverage of the Marines.

Meanwhile the Globe today runs this front-page, top of the fold, story that really tells nothing new--but I'm sure the pape'rs editors calculated its negative impact:

Corruption eats away at Afghan government

DOUG SAUNDERS

KABUL — Among the soldiers, diplomats and aid workers who live in Afghanistan, it is the problem that nobody dares mention...

That first sentence is a stunning misrepresentation, as the rest of the story itself demonstrates. In any event just about everybody has been talking about the corruption problem for a long time. This minor example from last December:

[US] Administration officials say the White House has become more concerned in recent months about the situation in Afghanistan, where grinding poverty, rampant corruption...