The result: a Bangalore beer haven that looks and feels as though it has stepped out of a college town.

BBC: Bangalore��s booming nightlife, all before 11:30pm

And though Mr Karzai needs the Americans, anti-Americanism in Afghanistan feels as if it is at an all-time high, after a botched air raid killed nine boys gathering firewood.

ECONOMIST: Attempting both to leave by 2014 and stay perhaps for ever