There has been an almost unending run of bad news out of Afghanistan, including new peaks in casualty figures for U.S. troops. Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander for the war effort, is currently on a media mission to convince the American people to stick with President Obama's strategy there a bit longer nonetheless.

He's likely to succeed.

"I think our job is … to show those in Washington that there is progress being made," Petraeus said on NBC Nightly News on Thursday. "We've got to build on the progress that has been established so far." He's due on NBC's Meet the Press this Sunday, CBS-TV next Friday and ABC-TV by the end of the month.