The reporter is embedded with US troops, which tends to color perspective. Opinions that the occupation is winnable and must be "won" are not given thorough support in the writeup. The complexities encountered by the troops are informative, but tend to conflict with the idea the occupation can be won (whatever that means.)

Informative report from the ground in the Afghan village of Loi Kolay. The author provides a gripping, factual account of the war in Afghanistan, with insightful perspectives from multiple sources and helpful context on the challenges we face to restore the Afghan public's faith in their own government.

By using the example of a single area in Afghanistan, the reporter brings to light many of the challenges the US and Afghans face in bring stability and security to the country. I didn't find anything in this piece particular novel, but if you want to get a sense of why Afghanistan is a quagmire of its own, this piece is a good start.

The narrative in this piece is compelling, but this is nothing that hasn't been reported before. The subtext is that the war in Afghanistan is a winnable one, a disputed idea whose meaning isn't discussed deeply here.

All history unknown - goes back many years and probably linked to the money made from dope fields. About every strong country has tried to change the country and has failed. It will go on for many more years unless we stupidly destroy the entire country. But new wars are going to make that country a sideshow as we fight among ourselves to solve the downslide of stocks and overall downturn. Possibly as we did after 1933 with world war II to find a way to out of the depression WITH WAR.

I sat down with this story a couple of days ago and underlined every reference derived from Pakistani propaganda. Misinformation: "...the U.S. is still fighting the Taliban, and Al Qaeda operatives are still plotting from Afghanistan." The Actual Truth: Both the Taliban and Al Qaeda do their plotting from inside Pakistan, where they live and receive support from the Pakistani government. Misinformation: "In 2001 there were fears that the war in Afghanistan would destabilize Pakistan. (The Pashtun ethnic group, which makes up a large part of the Taliban insurgency, straddles the border between the two countries.)" Actual Truth: The Taliban was created, funded, supplied, trained and commanded by Pakistan (beginning ... More »