Eli Lake reports that Pakistan desires more helicopters than, apparently the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Contingency Fund the U.S. established last year. The helicopters, they say, will support a “silent surge” of “more than 100,000 troops into the mountain lairs of al Qaeda’s senior leadership in the country’s Northwest Frontier Province.” In other words, exactly what the U.S. wants to hear, which is cause for skepticism, especially as Eli reports that they’re also asking for tanks, armored personnel carriers and anti-aircraft missiles. You never know when al-Qaeda will call in close air support, after all.

In other news: Hi from the Dirksen building, where Gen. Petraeus and Undersecretary Flournoy will imminently continue their testimony on Kandahar and Afghanistan strategy more generally. And while I’m a big Fred Kaplan fan, I don’t really see how Petraeus’s brief illness yesterday really works as a metaphor for Afghanistan. Neither are… doing well? I guess?