- McClatchy – One statistic about the war in Afghanistan has stood out for weeks: the single U.S. Marine killed so far in 2013.

- New York Times Magazine – Digging out roadside bombs, running into ambushes and dancing with deranged informants — a week in the life of an Afghan National Army battalion, on its own in the wilderness.

- Washington Post – David Ignatius’ interesting take on the future of Afghanistan – “Who can say what the future holds for Afghanistan? Surely, the country’s turmoil and suffering won’t end when U.S. troops depart; the situation may get much worse. But it’s a mistake to assume that nothing changed during America’s years of struggle [...]

- American Conservative – William S. Lind on how the Taliban mastered the operational art of modern war

- Washington Post – Top Pentagon leaders, White House advisers and members of Congress from both parties have long regarded the rapid expansion of Afghanistan’s army and police as a crucial element of the U.S. exit strategy. For years, they reasoned that generating a force of 352,000 soldiers and policemen would enable the Afghan government [...]

- New Yorker – Dexter Filkins asks will civil war hit Afghanistan when the U.S. leaves?

- Washington Post – An exceprt from Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s new book entitled “Little America: The War Within the War for Afghanistan.”

- Financial Times – Anatol Lieven writes that among other flaws, it was the ignorance of local realities that led to the failure of the western project in Afghanistan.

- New York Times Magazine – Fighting to the finish in Afghanistan’s most dangerous place.

- Vanity Fair – When First Lieutenant Jonathan Brostrom was killed by Taliban fighters in 2008, while attempting a heroic rescue in a perilously isolated outpost, his war was over. His father’s war, to hold the U.S. Army accountable for Brostrom’s death, had just begun. And Lieutenant Colonel William Ostlund’s war—to defend his own record [...]

- New York Times Magazine – Training Afghans to protect their homes and fight the Taliban seems to be working. The problem is that it’s also allowing them to fight their own personal wars.

- The Atlantic – To thwart the Taliban, marines in Helmand province are teaching the locals to read the Koran.

- National Journal – It isn’t just people who are dying in Afghanistan. So is an entire concept of war.

- National Post – An excellent review of Canada’s 10 year involvement in Afghanistan.

- New York Times – C.J. Chivers writes that if the American-led fight against the Taliban was once a contest for influence in well-known and conventionally defined areas – the capital and large cities, main roads, the border with Pakistan, and a handful of prominent valleys and towns – today it has become something else. [...]

- Rolling Stone – Petraeus has a new plan to finish the war: Double down on a failed strategy.

– New Yorker – Excellent analysis by Dexter Filkins of the corruption that permeates the Afghan government. The telling quote: “The allegations against many appear to confirm wider suspicions that the vast army of private gunmen here, many hired to escort supply convoys headed for NATO military bases, often accomplish their work by bribing the [...]

- New York Review of Books – Ahmed Rashid on the current situation in Afghanistan.

- The Atlantic – In the heart of Taliban country, the paratroopers of 2 Charlie begin their final mission, braving snipers, IEDs, and the unrelenting sun.

- Washington Post – The third of three articles adapted from “Obama’s Wars” by Bob Woodward.