There has been a lot of bad news from Afghanistan in the past few months: the killing of civilians by a U.S. soldier, the Koran burnings, this week’s attacks in Kabul, and the killing of American soldiers by their Afghan counterparts. These events are all adding to calls in the U.S. for troops to come home. NATO — whose defense and foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels — says the war is still on track, that Afghans will soon be able to take the lead in their country’s security. But as Quentin Sommerville from our partner the BBC reports, such hopes may be optimistic.