Reporter's Notebook

Back in Afghanistan

Photographer M. Scott Mahaskey and I are finally in Afghanistan. After many hours of traveling and a three-day stop in hot, dusty Kuwait, we are now at Bagram Air Field, waiting to get to the next stop in our assignment. While we’re here, we look forward to meeting the soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen who are serving here, here in Afghanistan, where hostilities have escalated, where more U.S. troops have died in the past few months than in Iraq, where more U.S. troops will soon be serving.

It has been almost four years since I was last here, and while Bagram has changed, it still feels and looks familiar.

As we move out from Bagram, I have to admit I’m nervous about what the next few weeks will hold, but I also have to admit that I can’t wait. There are stories to be told in this war, a war that began seven years ago, a war that until recently was forgotten and tucked behind the shadow of Iraq.

While our nation’s leaders discuss the way ahead from Capitol Hill, Scott and I are looking forward to hearing from our troops.