In public, NATO officials are not only satisfied with the 11th year of progress of the Afghan War; they’re downright thrilled. Gen. John Allen reiterated today that he is “enormously proud” of how the Afghan military reacted to an entirely unpredicted city-wide attack on Kabul, which led to 18 hours of gunfire targeting every major site in the city.

 

Privately, however, the subject of the upcoming “jumbo meeting” of NATO foreign and defense ministers is expected to center around the ever-worsening security conditions nationwide and the inability to predict even major coordinated attacks.

Even the public claims of “no strategy changes” don’t seem to be holding up, as the US is reportedly preparing to launch a massive offensive against Kabul, apparently aimed at “shoring up the defenses” in the city.