Gates Visits Afghanistan to Meet With Karzai and NATO Commanders - NYTimes.com: "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates met here on Monday with President Hamid Karzai and Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal to review plans for a major American-led offensive in the city of Kandahar, the spiritual heart and birthplace of the Taliban, an operation General McChrystal indicated could get under way this summer.
General McChrystal, the top NATO and American commander in Afghanistan, declined to be more specific, but told reporters at a briefing in Kabul that it would be several more months before American, coalition and Afghan forces were at full strength around Kandahar."
