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President-elect Barack Obama will inherit a war in Afghanistan that is certain to play a central role in his presidency, a conflict whose cost in blood and money is escalating even as many Afghans speak of a growing sense of peril in their daily lives.
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<br>Seven years on, Western military commanders are saying aloud what most were unwilling to acknowledge publicly even a few months ago: that they are struggling as never before to find a winning strategy against an insurgency that has amply proved its determination and durability. <b on></b><!-- 6799 -->
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