their luxurious NGO hotel for lunch in the garden under the grape vines.
would be leaving the next day for Faisabad.
a short stroll to be dangerous.
because they had to catch a pre-dawn minibus to Bamiyan.
in the volatile, but lucrative, war zone boomtown that Kabul had become.
Kandahar. Our conversation was interrupted by a phone call.
one ever comes here if they want to live forever.
who they really worked for.
Kalashnikov hanging from a ballistic nylon strap over his shoulder.
night with heavily armed strangers, either local or foreign!
horrendous, but nighttime was spooky with long angular shadows.
then filed through the dark.
best reputation in military circles.
quite a first day back in Afghanistan.