America is reeling from the devastating Taliban attack on a helicopter in Afghanistan, which killed 30 US soldiers, many of them elite special forces, and eight Afghans.

It follows a series of recent high profile attacks by the Taliban, including the siege of an international hotel in Kabul and the assassinations of Kandahar’s mayor and President Hamid Karzai’s brother.

Despite this, there's recently been a positive spin from Washington and Canberra about the success of the Afghan counterinsurgency campaign.

Dateline asks who's winning the war, and what does the future hold for American and Australian forces?

Presenter Mark Davis is joined by retired Australian Major General Jim Molan, who worked closely with US General David Petraeus to implement a counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, and Craig Coleman, who spent over two decades in the Australian army as a bomb disposal and mine clearance expert. He now runs a project management business in Afghanistan overseeing infrastructure projects in the most dangerous corners of the country.

WATCH - See this discussion about the war in Afghanistan. (Apologies, but the ABC News (America) story screened on Dateline about the helicopter attack is not available to view for copyright reasons, but you can still read the transcript here.)

NO REFUGE - This week's Dateline also reports on refugees from Afghanistan flooding into Greece for a better life in Europe, but finding that life there is no easier.

REPLAY - Look back at Dateline's past coverage on our Afghanistan page, including May's special program with worldwide reaction to Osama Bin Laden's death.

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Photo (Chinook file picture): AAP

On air: 7th August 2011