In Afghanistan, the U.S. military has launched its largest offensive since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. More than ten thousand troops are spreading out over four southern provinces to fight the Taliban. Over the past month more than five hundred people have died in Afghanistan in some of the heaviest fighting of the war. Meanwhile the Washington Post is reporting the U.S. military has carried out 340 air strikes in Afghanistan over the past three months. That’s more than double the number of air strikes conducted in Iraq during the same period.