Six Pack Abs Uncovered

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has held a meeting with the US commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, at which they agreed a need for more “Afghanisation”.
Downing Street said this included speeding up training of the Afghan army and police, amid a growing insurgency.
Mr Brown had a “good discussion” with Gen Stanley McChrystal, who had earlier made a speech in London on Afghanistan.
Earlier Downing Street said the PM was “open-minded” about whether more UK troops were needed in the country.
The meeting with Gen McChrystal followed discussions the pair had in August during a visit by Mr Brown to Afghanistan, at which he also said the UK would be “stepping up” the training of Afghan soldiers.
In his speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies on Thursday, Gen McChrystal warned there was only limited time to turn around the situation.
“The situation is serious and I choose that word very, very carefully,” he said.
“Neither success nor failure in our endeavour in support of the Afghan people and government can be taken for granted. My best assessment is that the situation is in some ways deteriorating,” he said.
He called for more troops, stressing that it was essential that the mission had the resources it needed to complete its task.

Sometimes, war comes down to the sunglasses.
Lt Chuck Anderson carefully removes his, as well as the bulky helmet that also obscures his face. He extracts his own wire rimmed glasses from somewhere inside his body armour as drops of sweat trickle down his head in the blazing heat of the day.
The face of 24-year-old Chuck from America emerges, beaming a big smile at white bearded Haji Rahmatullah and a gaggle of curious Afghan children who scurry to the apple orchard to inspect the strangers in camouflage gear.
The rest of the American patrol take up positions along the stream meandering through the picturesque village of Tesha in Wardak province, just west of Kabul.
Lt Anderson is one of the many faces of the new military mantra in Afghanistan. And that’s the point - it’s face to face as soldiers from foreign armies try to win over the population.
From foot soldiers living closer to Afghan villages, to the general now heading the command, everyone seems to be talking about counter-insurgency.
The new approach comes eight years into a war that’s costing a growing number of Afghan and foreign lives and costing public support in Afghanistan and in nations supplying the troops.
“The war is about the people. If you think of decisive terrain, it’s not a hill, it’s not a town, it’s not a road. It’s the people themselves,” Nato commander Gen Stanley McChrystal explained in a recent interview in Kabul.
On the wall facing his desk in his wood panelled office, Gen McChrystal has a photograph from the latest major offensive by American and British troops in Helmand province.

The camera shows a group of Afghan soldiers standing on a cold dusty plain, listening to an American instructor. He is showing them how to use a new American rifle.
In many Afghan units, the old AK47s are being thrown away now. The new Afghan army will have new weapons: refurbished M16s.
The new weapons may be more powerful. In a firefight, they may give Afghan troops an edge over insurgents who use Soviet-era AKs.
But the new rifles are also unfamiliar. They require more maintenance, more care.
The camera shows the Afghan soldiers hunched against the wind, as the instructor talks them through the basics of the M16 rifle, through a Dari interpreter.
The film I am watching was shot by an American lieutenant: Alan Campbell, a US Army reservist in his late twenties. He trained Afghan troops for nine months.
His video is instructive. It exudes a sense of the colossal task facing American trainers as they try to assemble a modern fighting force in Afghanistan, one that can tackle the Taliban, defend the central government, and - one day - allow US, British and other Nato troops to go home.
When I interview Alan Campbell, it sounds to me as if he found the young Afghan army troubled and unsure. He says corruption was a “serious problem”.
“Corruption was big: money, pay, accountability for soldiers, accountability for weapons, accountability for sensitive items, vehicles, fuel, ammunition,” he continues.
“In the big picture, that’s a big problem.”
US officers have told us privately of equipment issued to Afghan units disappearing and US troops finding it on sale in the local markets.
They also told us about Afghan army vehicles that appear to get two miles to the gallon of fuel.

At least 91 people have been killed after a huge car bomb ripped through a busy market in Peshawar, Pakistan.
The attack, which injured at least 200 others, was the deadliest to hit Pakistan this year.
Similar attacks have killed hundreds of people in recent weeks, as the army carries out an operation against Taliban militants in South Waziristan.
The blast came as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began a visit to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
Mrs Clinton told a news conference the US was “standing shoulder to shoulder” with Pakistan in its fight against “brutal extremist groups”.
The scenes inside the emergency ward of Lady Reading were both horrific and heart-rending.
So great were the number of casualties that there was a shortage of beds, with many people being treated on the floor.
One unattended four-year-old boy’s condition appeared to be particularly distressing. His head and legs were covered with deep wounds.
Shah Faisal, the man who brought the boy to the hospital, said that when he arrived on the scene, flames were coming out of the shops in the market.
“I could see some people trapped inside… I saw this girl lying unconscious on the road outside and I brought her here.
“But no one has come to claim her so far,” he said.
The Taliban have denied being behind this bombing, but the government blames them for a wave of attacks apparently launched in response to the army operation against their strongholds on the Afghan border.
The BBC’s Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says that few people will take the Taliban’s denial seriously and they remain the major suspects for the bombing - if only because few other groups would have a motive for carrying out such a devastating attack.
The blast tore through buildings in Peshawar’s Peepal Mandi market street, destroying several - including a mosque - and leaving others on fire.

President Obama is reviewing policy on Afghanistan for the second time this year, amid a debate on how ambitious America’s approach should be.
This summer thousands of US marines were deployed to Helmand to fight alongside the British, and to work on America’s new counter-insurgency strategy. Ian Pannell spent the past two weeks with the marines in Garmsir.
Christian Cabannis met a social worker before deploying to Afghanistan. Not for his own wellbeing, but to better understand the task at hand. It was his mother’s idea.
Her son is a lieutenant colonel in the US marines and the commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion 8th Marine Regiment.
He is in charge of perhaps the most dangerous part of Afghanistan and also one of the poorest. So his mother wanted him to better understand what it is that motivates the poor and how to win their support.
He describes this mission as “armed social work”; providing hope for the needy and defence against the Taliban.
It is pure, modern counter-insurgency strategy (Coin) and what American and British generals believe is the key to winning this war. Lt Col Cabannis says that until recently the mission lacked the right focus.
Three years ago, Garmsir market was shot up and abandoned; the scene of pitched battles between British forces and the Taliban. But today UK and US troops have driven them away from the town and Garmsir is held up as a success story.
In the past three months, US marines have built on British efforts to establish meaningful local government. They have engaged in development work and brought an air of modest prosperity to the town.
We visited an Eid fair, celebrating the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Children squealed with delight and terror as they were flung around on a brightly-coloured wooden Ferris wheel.