C.J. Chivers is one of the better war correspondents the NY Times has. Not that I would like to pretend to be an expert on this matter.
Today Chivers had once again an excellent article in the newspaper on Afghanistan: “At the next compound, which contained a house surrounded by a withered vineyard, a woman approached the paratroopers after the Afghan police walked through. She said that after the Afghan officers had left she found that she was missing 500 Pakistani rupees, worth about $8, from the box where she kept her money.
News of her accusation spread through the patrol; Afghan Army soldiers appeared disgusted. One chambered a round in his Kalashnikov rifle and strutted menacingly toward the police officers; another leveled his rocket-propelled grenade launcher at them.
Lieutenant Childers intervened, and herded the police officers back inside the compound. They stood against the wall.”

Earlier this year C.J. Chivers was embedded with Dutch troops in Afghanistan.
For anyone really interested what’s going on there, his articles are indispensable.
C.J. Chivers is --I believe -- correspondent for the NY Times in Moscow, but fortunately enough he travels from time to time to Afghanistan.