The Associated Press reports that “the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan has submitted his first three-month assessment of the situation in the war-torn country and what it’s going to take to defeat the Taliban, a U.S. military official has told The Associated Press.”  

“And though the content of the review by U.S. Army Gen. John W. Nicholson is secret, the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan received a major incentive this month when President Barack Obama decided to expand America’s involvement with more airstrikes against insurgents, giving the U.S. military wider latitude to support Afghan forces, both in the air and on the ground.”  

“The report — and Nicholson’s deployment to Afghanistan — comes at a time of Taliban resurgence, with the group gaining ground in the southern provinces of the Taliban heartland.”