Paks attack

Pakistan whacks al-Qaeda on the Afghan border. The heat has been on Pakistan. As wonderful as it is to see them take out several terrorist compounds, Pakistan remains a marginally productive partner who, as Gates noted, needs to do a lot more.

Slightly off topic, the 165th anniversary of Gandamak and the last stand of the 44th Foot just passed on Jan. 13, marking the end of the poorly led, ill-fated British 1839 invasion of Afghanistan. Not counting Dr. Bryson's ride into Jallalabad later that day.

Back in 2001, this was one of the incidents everyone pointed to, along with the Russian invasion of 1979, crying quagmire before it started. Entirely different situations, cautionary in the sense that no Afghan adventure should be entered lightly. Nor Iraqi, it would appear. Our Afghan war, though its had its missteps and setbacks, shows no signs of going the way of either of those. Yet.

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