To Afghanistan-and-back.

• Author: Rall, Ted
• Position: Excerpt

DID YOU HEAR? THE TALIBS REALLY FUCKED HIM UP.

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

INTERVIEWING TALIBAN P.O.W.s WAS A STANDARD STOP FOR ALL OF US. I'D SPENT HOURS JOKING AROUND WITH INMATES AT THE TALOQAN JAIL AND TAKING THEIR PHOTOGRAPHS.

REMEMBER THAT ENGLISH GUY YOU RODE IN WITH?

HE WAS INTERVIEWING SOME TALIBS WEST OF KHANABAD, ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF KUNDUZ. THEY ATTACKED HIM ... THEY TORE HIS SKIN OFF WITH THEIR HANDS. LIKE ANIMALS.

I WENT TO THE HOSPITAL.

HE NEEDS SKIN GRAFTS. I REQUESTED A CHOPPER FROM BOTH THE U.S. AND THE FOREIGN INDUSTRY, BUT THEY BOTH SAID THE SAME THING: NO MEDEVACS * FOR JOURNALISTS.

IS HE GOING TO DIE?

"IT WON'T BE THE FIRST TIME. I LOST 3 LITTLE KIDS AN HOUR AGO. DAMNED KIDS WALK WHENEVER AND WHEREVER THE HELL THEY WANT."

JOURNALIST BODY COUNT: 13.

THE OUTCOME OF THE WAR HAD SEEMED INEVITABLE UNTIL 500 TALIBAN ESCAPED FROM PRISON AND BROKE INTO AN ARMS CACHE IN MAZAR-E-SHARIF. A CIA AGENT NAMED JOHNNY SPANN, WHO'D BEEN INTERROGATING THE POWs, HELD THEM OFF FOR HOURS BEFORE RUNNING OUT OF AMMO. 2,000 U.S. MARINES CROSSED THE UZBEK BORDER FROM TERMIZ TO CRUSH THE REBELLION. AND AS USUAL: BOMBS. LOTS AND LOTS OF BOMBS.

THE NEWS RIPPLED EAST. TALIBAN "CELLS"--IN REALITY, NORTHERN ALLIANCE SOLDIERS WHOSE ALLEGIANCES HAD SWITCHED BACK AS EASILY AS THEY'D DEFECTED--SPRUNG UP IN BANGI AND DASHT-E QA'LEH. IN TALOQAN OUR 45 -- WELL, 43 -- JOURNALISTS BLITHELY CONTINUED THEIR WAR COMMUTE TO THE KUNDUZ FRONT. WOMEN VANISHED FROM THE STREETS. A WORKMAN STOPPED PAINTING OVER THE TALIBAN LOGO ON THE TOWN SCHOOL. THE NORTH WAS IN PLAY.

I'D BEEN TREATING MYSELF TO POST-RAMAZAN DINNERS AT THE SHAH MASSOUD RESTAURANT (PREVIOUSLY THE MULLAH OMAR). EVERYONE WAS ARMED AND FRESH FROM THE FRONT, SO YOU GOT RESPECT MERELY FOR SITTING DOWN. IT WAS THE ONLY PLACE WHERE I ENJOYED LOCAL PRICING: 30 cents FOR ALL THE BREAD, KEBABS AND CHAI YOU COULD STAND.

CHAI?

NE.

I STOPPED GOING TO THE SHAH MASSOUD AFTER MAZAR. FACES SCOWLED; OTHERS LEERED. ANYONE COULD KILL YOU WITHOUT BEING PUNISHED; I DIDN'T WANT TO PUSH IT.

I'D COME TO AFGHANISTAN TO GET THE TRUTH. THE TRUTH TURNED OUT TO BE OBVIOUS AND CLEAR; WHY WASN'T IT THAT WAY IN MY LIVING ROOM BACK IN MANHATTAN?

NOTHING IS EVEN SLIGHTLY LIKE THEY SAY.

COME ON--YOU KNOW JOURNALISM IS FICTION.

AMERICANS WERE BEING TOLD THAT THEIR BOMBS WERE HITTING WITH PINPOINT PRECISION. I'D SUSPECTED SOMETHING LESS THAN 100% PERFORMANCE, BUT HERE THEY WERE, CARPET-BOMBING NORTHERN ALLIANCE CITIES.

CNN SAID THAT THE...