I wrote yesterday about failures in signals analysis by counterterrorism officials, but I woke up today to read about a deadly failure of good old human intelligence. The suicide bomber who killed seven CIA operatives in Afghanistan last week was an Al Qaeda double agent.

U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan doubled in 2009 compared with a year ago as 30,000 additional troops began pouring in for a stepped-up offensive and the Taliban fought back with powerful improvised bombs.

Afghan investigators today accused US-led troops of dragging ten civilians from their beds and shooting them dead during a night raid.

News out of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India reports massive corruption at the highest levels of government, corruption that could only be financed with drug money. In Afghanistan, the president's brother is known to be one of the biggest drug runners in the world.