Smoke 'em if you've got 'em

A U.S. colonel visits an Afghan Local Police outpost in Charkusa, Afghanistan, a sort of model village in Kandahar province where Taliban activity has been pushed out to a large degree. Not pictured, the intense smell of hashish emanating from a room full of police officers.

Yep, that's what you're looking at. Just down the road, a different crew of police officers prepared to burn 300 pounds of hash.

Against my better judgment ...

Hazy morning at the engine graveyard of Kabul International Airport.

KANDAHAR - Well, I'm back in Afghanistan, right now enjoying a balmy evening in sunny Kandahar. Not even two weeks in and an Afghan National Army soldier already shot at me by mistake. Should be good times.

I'm just getting started here but have one story out and several more that should be coming soon. Here's a link to the first one:

http://www.stripes.com/news/kandahar-massacre-reverberates-across-the-river-1.171701