In his speech at West Point on Dec. 1, Obama laid out his plan for an initial increase of some 30,000 troops in Afghanistan. The end of the speech was "a firm assertion of America's unique role in the world," says Michael Gerson, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush. Win McNamee/Getty Images hide caption

A man talks on his cell phone in Kabul, Afghanistan, in this 2007 photo. As part of its initiative to use technology to address global problems, the State Department is working on better ways to protect mobile phone service in Afghanistan from insurgent attacks. AP hide caption

Sebastian Marroquin, son of Colombia's late drug lord Pablo Escobar, poses for a photo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he has lived since fleeing Colombia in 1994. Until recently, he led a low-profile existence. Now, he is giving up anonymity and asking forgiveness for his father's reign of terror in a new documentary, Sins of My Father. Natacha Pisarenko/AP hide caption

Stephen Bosworth, President Obama's special envoy for North Korea, is welcomed by an unidentified North Korean official upon arrival at Pyongyang airport, North Korea, Dec. 8, 2009. Bosworth begins a rare trip to North Korea for the highest-level talks with the communist nation in more than a year. Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service/AP hide caption