"You're going to drink lots of tea. You're going to eat lots of goat. Get to know the people. That's the reason why we're here." -Brig. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson to officers from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines.

An anti-Taliban offensive involving 4,000 US Marines, the largest since Fallujah, just got underway.

Did the New York Times want to keep reporter David Rohde's kidnapping in Afghanistan quiet because they feared for his safety, or because they didn't want to drive up his ransom price? Rohde himself has suggested the latter.

Robert Gates demanded the resignation of General David McKiernan, America's top general in Afghanistan. So McKiernan is probably gay. Or an Atheist. Gates prefers a guy who helped cover up Pat Tillman's death. [WP]

BBC reporter Ian Pannell tagged along on a U.S. embassy-sponsored trip to northern Afghanistan to inspect counter-narcotics operations. His handlers got skittish when their car broke down and flew back to Kabul without him.

The family of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers, 30, authorized news media coverage of the return of Myers' body from Afghanistan. The coverage was the first of its kind of 18 years.

We doubt Apple will sign this guy up for an endorsement deal, but Mullah Zaif, a former Taliban official, raved about his iPhone to Al Jazeera correspondent Hamish McDonald during a visit in Kabul.

The media attention being paid to Senator Barack Obama's trip to Afghanistan this week has all the usual wing-nuts crying that the press isn't doing enough to cover Republican Presidential candidate George W. John McCain. "'The question really needs to be posed: Is this type of coverage fair?' said Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va. 'This is nothing but a political stunt.'"

Army man Prince Harry has left Afghanistan following Matt Drudge's release of his whereabouts. The British military has decided it was too risky for the spare Prince to stay there with his location known. Predictably, the British blame the American media for our general boorishness.