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And so begins the Afghan-NATO offensive into Helmand province, known as Operation Moshtarak – which translates roughly as "Together.” We are focusing on the area around a town called Marjah, where there has historically been a great deal of insurgent activity and heroin production.
There are about 10,000 troops directly involved, including about 5,000 Afghan Army and Police, and about 5,000 NATO forces – U.S., British, Danish, and Estonians – under tactical command of 2-star British General, Nick Carter and Afghan 1-star Shir Mohammad.

Just left historic Munich, Germany where I was fortunate to attend and speak at their annual Security Conference.
What an all star crowd of attendees! There were senior and impressive delegations from around the globe, including all NATO nations, most of the Afghan contributing countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, China, India, South Korea, and many others. From the United States, the Congressional delegation included Senators McCain, Lieberman, Graham, Kerry, and Udall, as well as Representatives Sanchez and Harmon.

I'm in California this week to give a couple of talks on NATO, Europe, and cyberspace – all of which have a lot in common. I'll be speaking up north in Monterey, and down south in San Diego. It is always pleasant to return to the west coast where I spent so much of my seagoing career – well over a decade in four assignments at sea. Both of my daughters were born here, as well. California is full of memories.

Yet, at the moment, I am thinking about a superb international event that happened last week: the International London Conference on Afghanistan. Last week, I wrote about my last trip to Afghanistan as we prepared for it.