Thanks for the link, I've read it.

I agree that Hizb-I Islami Gulbuddin is different than the regular Taliban. The attack does not appear to be the work of the Taliban.

However, I wonder if the Italians were bribing the Taliban to keep forign fighters out of the area? The Taliban may have given permission to Hizb-I Islami Gulbuddin to conduct operations in Taliban territory. The Taliban may have even given indirect support.

This is part of the challenges of counter-insurgency, separating the "good" Taliban from the bad. A counter-insurgency force must be seamless, any internal differences or misunderstandings will be exploited. This is yet another (mostly unreported) reason it made a great deal of sense in 2003 to give the Jihadis a war in Iraq that they couldn't afford to ignore -- the Iraq coalition forces are more unified under a single command. There is (supposedly) a single, unified ISAF command, but in practice there are seams and divisions.

I don't know if counter-insurgency in Afghanistan will work as well as it did in Iraq, but I do believe it is criminal if, having come this far, we don't at least give it a real try.

Speaking personally, after all the passionate discussions we've had here re Lisbon, it is hard to imagine that most Americans or Europeans yawn when they think of Europe. But, Andrew Zvirzdin is probably correct, most people on either side take it for granted or don't think much about it.

Possibly this is because the EU institutions are on their best behavior -- they scrupulously avoid doing anything big or controversial, so that Lisbon will be ratified. Perhaps when Lisbon is finally ratified there will be a big party and everyone will smile for a while, instead of yawning. After that, perhaps there will be a different emotion if, for example, the EU enforces the draconian policies that the global warming alarmists insist are necessary.

A stronger EU will, by nature, mean that Europe is less Atlanticist. Nevertheless, the Atlantic relationships will endure for good reasons, such as shared interests and shared culture, as well as less good reasons such as continued US subsidy of European defense, pharma, etc. Also we will remain close because of the structure of the UNSC which gives Europe in effect two permanent votes (and two vetoes), more than any other bloc in the world.

"John, you should forget to think to EU as a US copy, or satellit."

I only make comparisons because the comparisons demand to be made: the EU is an exercise in nation-building, just like the US those many years ago.

I think there is no reason the EU should copy specific US institutions. For example, our current, two-party system is something that there is no reason at all to copy!

Just as European criticism of the Iraq war was presented as advice from a well-meaning friend, Europe should accept US advice on Lisbon/EU in that same spirit.

OK this last paragraph has some (I hope, friendly) sarcasm, but the first two paragraphs are in fact sincere.