Clinton Heads to Kabul

With 103 coalition troops killed in Afghanistan last month, and confidence in the current strategy flagging among both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, Hillary Clinton is heading to Kabul. Despite the increase in U.S. troops and success in capturing and killing Taliban leaders, militant attacks have continued. The administration says it will review its Afghan strategy at the end of the year, but for now Clinton is off to Kabul to renew Washington’s commitment to support Hamid Karzai’s government. She will attend a conference on Tuesday in which the Afghan government will reveal plans for improving security, bringing militants back into society, and fighting corruption. After Kabul, Clinton goes to Islamabad, where she will encourage greater cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and then to South Korea, where tensions continue to run high since the report that North Korea was responsible for sinking a South Korean warship.