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Summary
The US and NATO offensive in Afghanistan is proceeding at a 'slower than anticipated pace,' Admiral Mike Mullen said on Monday.Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made his comments at joint press conference with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Gates added that the pace of progress would not impact on the future planning in Afghanistan's volatile Helmand Province. Mullen also announced that the military has launched an investigation the accidental killing of 27 civilians by a NATO airstrike. General Stanley McChrystal got a hold of the president, President Karzai immediately and apologized and he is going to go out publicly to the Afghan people, Mullen said. Although, Mullen did not make any further comment on the circumstances surrounding the strike.
