Taliban Filling the Gaps

From the NYTimes comes this piece on the increasing presence of the Taliban - they "are everywhere the soldiers are not," in southern Afghanistan. American commanders in the south have been told to ready themselves to accept the bulk of the estimated 20,000-30,000 new troops that President Obama is expected to deploy. How well the additional boots on the ground can compete with the creeping Taliban influence remains to be seen. PCR Project Co-Director Rick Barton said "We saw much the same thing in Iraq in 2003. People do not feel safe in a vacuum."