For coalition troops, this is the summer strategists and historians might look back on as the moment foreign troops either failed or succeeded in achieving success in their mission in Afghanistan.

In Helmand Province, in the South, a significantly higher number of UK, American and other international forces are on a mission no other external army has managed to pull off before: take and hold territory from the Taliban, spend money on civilian projects to win "hearts and minds" and hope an Afghan authority takes over and keeps everything stable.

Saying this is a tall order is the understatement of the last 8 years those coalition forces have been in Afghanistan. What is needed are equal measures of force, charm, money and luck.

We are live at 10 Downing Street with a look at the Nato Secretary General's meetings with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and we'll take you to Helmand Province where a CNN crew is reporting on the fight from the frontlines.

Also today, we'll talk about the latest from Iran. One prominent politician is suggesting a referendum be held to decide if the election that sparked all the protests was legitimate. Meantime, the highest authorities in Iran are signalling that any open dissent will be swiftly dealt with. We are live in Tehran.

Also, unless you've been living under a (moon) rock, you know today is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo moon landings. We'll be talking to Craig Nelson, author of the recently released book on the Nasa mission, Rocket Men.

Reading up on his book before the interview, I ran across some interesting trivia gathered by Nelson on the mission, including the fact that Apollo's computers had less processing powers than a modern-day cellphone or that the Eagle's door didn't have a handle on the outside, so Buzz Aldrin had to be sure not to lock Neil Armstrong and himself out when stepping out onto to the moon's surface.

We'll of course look at the latest on the Mumbai terror trials, today's Wall Street action, sport and weather.

Hope you join us!

Hala

Posted by: CNN Anchor, Hala Gorani
Filed under: Today At The I-Desk