Barbara Starr on the front lines
AFGHANISTAN (CNN) - It's another cold, blustery day in Afghanistan, and winter is setting in. That's going to be a major challenge for U.S. troops as the surge of 30,000 U.S. forces gets under way here.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has already signed the orders that will send some of the first troops here. The Marines are expected to be among the first to arrive, to be followed by a good number of Army forces and other support units. All of this aimed at carrying out this policy, this strategy, if you will, of protecting the Afghan people and providing enough security to take the oxygen out of the Taliban movement, out of the insurgent forces. FULL POST
Karzai on U.S. troops, future of Afghanistan
CNN's Christiane Amanpour talked with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to get his reaction to Obama's U.S. troop announcement and his goal for the future of Afghanistan. Karzai spoke to CNN's "Amanpour" program, in an exclusive interview.
"We will make it with or without the help of the rest of the world," Karzai says. "It was the rest of the world that needs to be in Afghanistan to bring them some security from the problems that they caused themselves by promoting Islamic radicalism - first the Soviets, then by abandoning Afghanistan, the West needs to use this opportunity to help Afghanistan and to help themselves."
