"But they are part of US special forces according to our sources and according to our local officials working in the province, " he said.

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In our conversation, I learned that he was from Henan province, which is one of the poorest provinces in China and produces the largest number of migrant workers.

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"Almost in every province Prime Minister Maliki visited we gathered more people in our rallies than his, " he said.

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We have to take a look at how the new proposed method will affect our current project and also affect our decisions with other projects that we are currently looking at in the province.

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As General Petraeus has said, we will assess the progress made in December and begin a responsible conditions-based transition to Afghan security leadership, on a province-by-province basis, in July 2011, a date that represents both our sense of urgency for Afghanistan to step up and our resolve to meet our stated goals.

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