More official word on who’s got the Big Mo in Afghanistan:

“We now have the initiative. We have created momentum.” Major-General Nick Carter, commander of NATO coalition forces in southern Afghanistan (Carlotta Gall, “NATO coalition pushes Taliban into retreat in southern Afghanistan,” Globe and Mail, 21 October 2010)

“My sense is there will be a number of different opportunities that will arise as the insurgency increasingly loses momentum, and indeed understands that it’s lost the initiative.” Major-General Nick Carter (Jonathan Montpetit, “NATO brass see signs of hope in Afghanistan,” Globe and Mail, 9 October 2010)

“We’ve checked [the Taliban’s] momentum…. Whether it’s reversed—we’re in the midst of seeing whether we can reverse that momentum now.” U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn (Yaroslav Trofimov, “U.S. Defense Official Sees Afghan Progress,” Wall Street Journal, 28 October 2010)

And here’s what U.S. military and intelligence officials say in private: Greg Miller, “Taliban unscathed by U.S. strikes,” Washington Post, 27 October 2010.

Previous editions of Happy Talk here and here.