With an enthusiastic election turnout on Saturday, the Afghan people took a major step toward electing a new president—a crucial step for a young democracy seeking to demonstrate that it can peacefully pass power from one leader to another. This will be a first for Afghanistan, a country where most transitions have been violent. But we need to be patient and realistic as we watch and support this process as it plays out over the spring and summer.

This week, U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to Mexico, where he will meet with his North American counterparts, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Enrique Peña-Nieto. David Petraeus and Robert Zoellick writ: "The summit points to a great strategic opportunity: 20 years after the North American Free Trade Agreement entered into force, all three countries have the chance to forge a new forward-looking agenda for North American competitiveness and integration and thereby increase the economic growth and global influence of each."

"With the drawdown of America's major post-9/11 overseas engagements, nearly a million of the country's finest men and women will be leaving the armed forces and joining the economy," write David Petraeus and Sidney E. Goodfriend. "With that in mind, we want to focus on the long-term futures of our veterans. Last year in these pages we stressed the importance of giving them an opportunity to pursue not just a job but a fulfilling career. The distinction is significant, and particularly important for our newest veterans."