By all accounts, insurgence violence has remained steady and in some cases escalated over the past year.

NPR: Examining the Makeup of the Iraqi Insurgency

The government may have won the battle against the Islamist insurgence in the 1990's, but it's still taking no chances.

BBC: By Frank Gardner

Even with the insurgence of new hope from our first sunrise this morning, our journey and struggle is not over.

BBC: Surviving the worst winter in the world

And that helped, initially, until the insurgence started using more explosives, they started using shaped charges, which can penetrate just about anything.

NPR: Bush Speech Highlights the Challenge of the Iraqi Insurgency

Car bombs and attacks in the capital city of Kabul have also increased, fueled by what seems to be an unfettered insurgence by the Taliban over the past 12 months.

CNN: Documents give insight into increased violence in Afghanistan

The country's northern neighbours have consistently supported the alliance in a bid to keep the Taliban at bay: all of them have restive Muslim communities who might be affected by any spread of Islamic insurgence.

ECONOMIST: The battle for Afghanistan

This came in the same week that we got a new video from Mr. al-Zarqawi, suggesting and condemning that the Baghdad leadership are simply puppets of the United States occupiers, and bowing to lead the minority Sunni insurgence to victory in new offenses, is what he said, essentially in that.

NPR: Roundtable: Rice, Rumsfeld in Iraq, 'United 93'