US Marines in Helmand: "Operation Khanjar"/ Canadian general's view/Brit Update

Start of a post at The Canada-Afghanistan Blog:

I'm a bit worried about linking to this article so early, because I have a feeling that tomorrow I'll read a blog post by a well-informed person (for example) blasting it for naivety or misguided intentions...

Not necessarily yet, but an earlier post:

US Marine realities in Helmand

Meanwhile, Paul at Celestial Junk posts about a Canadian's opinion:

Physically, Morally - Broken

In every conflict, climaxes that spell the beginning of the end for one side usually are signalled by increases, not decreases, in casualties on all sides. It happened in Iraq ... are we witnessing the same in Afghanistan?

Vance:

The general said Canadians have to remember progress in the war cannot be measured by the number of soldiers killed, because the purpose of the mission is to protect Afghans and help the country onto its feet.

That, he said, would be an enormous challenge even without the insurgency.
"It's a shattered place -- physically, morally, broken -- but has shown in the past the ability to rebound," he said.

"I see the ability to rebound present, and the potential, everywhere I go."

And on the other hand...more here.

Update: The Canada-Afghanistan Blog continues, with this interesting post:

The British And Afghanistan

Across the pond, Defence of the Realm takes note of the "storm of coverage" in the media since the Brits saw fifteen deaths in nine days. "We predicted it would come, although even we had no idea that it would be this intense – magnified as it was by the highest land mortality rate since operations began in 2001."..

Upperdate: BruceR goes into one part of the Washington Post story at the second link in this post:

Generals negotiate over a platoon

This rings a few bells. WashPost...

More from Flit based on another Post story:

U.S. PRTs going all-green?

WashPost...