Don't forget Afghanistan

In case anyone is wondering if we're making any progress in Afghanistan, I present this:

Afghanistan's government flag was raised Wednesday on what had been one of the biggest strongholds of the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan and a leading world center of heroin production.

Coalition forces aren't messing around. When you're dealing with an enemy that respects only force, you use a lot of it:

Embedded with a team of British troops and a detachment/"A–team" of U.S. special forces, I watched the Taliban being pounded these last few days with overwhelming force -- vapor trails circled in the clear blue sky over the Helmand desert as B1 and B52 bombers backed by A10 tank busters, F16s, Apache helicopters and Specter gunships were used to kill hundreds of Taliban fighters.

As in Iraq, the enemy isn't just indigenous:

U.S. forces believe the Taliban were backed by a large strength of foreign fighters, including those linked to al Qaeda. Soldiers who I accompanied found one dead fighter whose notebook revealed he was from Pakistan.

It just further hammers home the point that Afghanistan and Iraq are two campaigns in a larger war. Iran is yet another, albeit one that hasn't escalated to the point where we take military action.

H/T Mike at Cold Fury.