The Iraq war's relegation to the inside pages of most newspapers and media outlets in the United States is part of a wider decline in attention to areas where the country's political and military interests remain deeply involved. There has been little coverage, for example, of important events in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the first weeks of 2008 (see "Iran and Pakistan: danger signals", 10 January 2008"). This relative neglect notwithstanding, a cluster of incidents in both countries signals deeper trends with long-term significance.

The impact of the United States surge in Iraq on the containment of the worst of the violence is being represented in neo-conservative circles in Washington as a sign of success. The provisional and qualified nature of current trends in Iraq needs to be emphasise

Iraqi defence minister Abdul Qadir said that Iraq would require US forces in the country for the next ten years