From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Afghanistan, recent casualties and long-term objectives.

Hello again, I'm Orban Alney, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International,

a daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

July's not over, but it's already the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Afghanistan

since the war began eight years ago. The U.S. has begun a major offensive against the Taliban,

but two out of three allied casualties are caused not by direct combat, but IEDs, crude roadside bombs.

Defense Secretary Gates says there must be progress before next

summer or the war will lose the support of the American people. How will progress be measured?

What are the U.S. objectives in a conflict now being called Barack Obama's war?

On reporters' notebook later on, Europe's new controversy over assisted suicide. First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and

Catherine T. McArthur Foundation. Hello again, Warren Alney back with To the Point. The deadliest

month in eight years for U.S. troops raises questions about how long the American people

will support the war in Afghanistan. Has President Obama been clear about his objectives, or

how he wants progress to be measured? On reporter's notebook, a famous British orchestra conductor's

wife had terminal cancer, he was healthy, but they both took a

lethal substance in Switzerland while their children looked on. We'll hear about the ensuing

debate on assisted suicide. First, this news update. President Obama threatened to veto the

entire military spending bill, and today the Senate gave in. By a vote of 58 to 40 it adopted an amendment

killing new spending for the F-22 fighter jet. The president applauded the action.

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