Dispatches: Af/Pak

KANDAHAR — In a small and crowded tent on the middle of a dusty American military base in Southern Afghanistan — two Afghan men suffering from head wounds struggle for their lives while a third moans in pain — his torso peppered with tiny punctures and a baseball-sized hole just above the knee of his […]

Spc. Bobby Burton, from the 504th Military Police Company, winces as he leaves the “Hell Hole” — Camp Nathan Smith’s burn pit. In order to dispose of their garbage, soldiers must brave thick black smoke from burning plastic and paper multiple times a day. I made three trips through the smoke with Burton as he […]

From the Associated Press: Eight American troops died in attacks in southern Afghanistan, including a car bombing and a gunfight outside a police compound in Kandahar, officials said Wednesday as the Taliban push back against a coalition effort to secure the volatile region.

Three American soldiers died last night in an attack on a base in Kandahar City. They were among the eight killed in the last 24 hours in Afghanistan, putting July on track to be as violent a month as June, the deadliest month in the country since the Afghan war began in 2001. The three […]

It’s Sgt. Timothy Anderson’s last resupply mission to a volatile part of Helmand Province, north of Marjah. He’s been running the vulnerable resupply convoys to the 3rd battalion, 6th Marines small patrol bases and combat outposts for seven months now. It shows. He recites the mission brief from memory. It’s the most amusing brief I’ve […]