"And at the end-of-the-day, if we could transform strategically chosen valleys

... I think we could start to transform the environment and turn this fight around," said Col. Jeffrey M. Haynes, USMC, former commanding officer for the Regional Corps Advisory Command - Central, Afghanistan. Col. Haynes joined us today for the DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable with Andrew Lubin of the USNI Proceedings, Chuck Simmins from America's North Shore Journal, Troy Stewart of Bohammer, and Greg Grant with Nextgov.

“We work very hard to develop the (Afghan) National Army Air Corps to get them into the current fight,” said Maj. Gen. Jay Lindell,

commander of Combined Air Power Transition Force. Lindell, who has been in Afghanistan for 13 months leading a joint team of 170 military, civilian and contractor personnel to initiate an air corps for the Afghan National Army, spoke with bloggers and online journalists during a DoD Live Bloggers Roundtable, Sept. 23.

“Our goal is to develop this air corps to be fully independent and fully operational and capable – linked to security requirements of Afghanistan,” said Lindell.

Joining us on the call were Christoper Radin, Longwarjournal.com; and Sharon Weinberger, blog.wired.com/defense/.

"... the Afghan people are looking for security ...they want the Taliban to go away ..." - Col. McGrath

U.S. Army Col. Thomas J. McGrath, Commander, Afghanistan Regional Security Integration Command - South, joined us for the DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable this morning. Col. McGrath spoke with Troy Steward of Bouhammer and Boston Maggie about the progress in training the Afghan National Army and Police, the 2-7 Marines as embedded trainers, the building of the Ministry of Defense hospital for the ANA 205th Hero Corps, and the economic development as the market price of wheat now exceeds the price of poppy. Hey, the also have a brand new blog linked above.

"I do believe that in the final analysis we're going to get an awful lot done ..." Col. Brian Balfe

Col. Brian Balfe, Commander of the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the New York National Guard spoke with us today on the DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable about his role and the 27th BCT's mission as the command element of Task Force Phoenix VII. Task Force Phoenix is charged with training and mentoring the Afghan National Security Forces.

On the call with us today was Troy Stewart, Andrew Lubin of the Military Observer, Scott Kesterson, and Christopher Radin of the Long War Journal.

"Hopefully I've painted an optimistic picture, because it is; but it's certainly not easy." Col. Michael McMahon

Col. Michael J. McMahon, Director of Force Integration and Training (CJ7) for the Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan joined us for the second DoD Bloggers Roundtable of the day. Col. McMahon spoke to us about building the Afghan National Army and Police, Force District Development, the Afghan National Civil Order Police, and the successes and challenges of helping Afghanistan stand on its own.

On the call with us today was Andrew Lubin of the Military Observer, Bruce McQuain of QandO and Jarred Fishman of the Air Force Pundit.