Operation Avalanche

RFE-RL is reporting that the recently launched Operation Avalanche is primarily to protect the constitutional loya jirga scheduled to begin Saturday. This is the largest military operation the U.S. has undertaken in the country since the initial fall of the Taliban two years ago. The U.S. is also negotiating with associates of fundamentalist warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to bring him into the political process, though that appears unlikely.

UPDATE: Hekmatyar has released a video calling for holy war against the Americans.