Taliban on the march

Meanwhile, over in Afghanistan, the forgotten war isn't going so well:

Dozens of civilians were killed over the weekend in Afghanistan, the latest in the trend of spiralling violence that has engulfed the embattled nation. The civilian casualties, Taliban attacks and troop casualty numbers are putting increasing strain on the Western-led coalition, leading some to speculate that the war is unwinnable.

On Sunday, international forces killed four Afghan police officers and five civilians during a fire-fight in the western province of Farah. In a separate incident that same night, coalition-fired mortar rounds killed at least four civilians in the eastern Paktika province. On Monday, in Laghman province, also in the east, Taliban fighters fired a missile into a fuel truck, killing six civilians.

The incidents come as the U.S. is fending off criticism from the Afghan government that coalition forces use excessive and inappropriate force. Last week, a group of Afghan parliamentarians revealed that a U.S. air-strike hit a wedding party in the Nangarhar province, killing 47 civilians. Two days earlier, local officials allege, another U.S. air-strike killed 15 civilians in the Nuristan province.