U.S. position in Afghanistan deteriorating

The National Intelligence Estimate now reportedly describes the situation as "grim."

"... a draft of the classified NIE, representing the key judgments of the US intelligence community's 17 agencies and departments, is being circulated in Washington... According to people who have been briefed, the NIE will paint a "grim" picture of the situation in Afghanistan... Seth Jones, an expert on Afghanistan at the Rand Corporation think tank, called the situation in Afghanistan "dire..."

Last week, Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress "we're running out of time" in Afghanistan. "I'm not convinced we're winning it in Afghanistan," Adm. Mullen testified.

Perhaps foreshadowing the NIE assessment on Afghanistan, Adm. Mullen told Congress, "absent a broader international and interagency approach to the problems there, it is my professional opinion that no amount of troops in no amount of time can ever achieve all the objectives we seek in Afghanistan."

Details will be lacking for a while, because "there are "no plans to declassify" any of it before the election..."