Michael, thank you for your service. It seems to have paid off. best of luck.

Thank you for the moving article.

It's a brilliant piece of progress. What do you think the chances are of it remaining a safe place to business, free of Taliban intimidation, in the next 2-4 years? Will the hard won gains be lost the moment US troops aren't there? The Taliban are like those ghosts in Mario; you look at them and they freeze- you look away and they start moving in.

1. Without saying a word as to who is right or who is wrong I would just dare saying that American Government seems to be ignorant of Afghanistan's past. These rugged mountains with the help of their inmates were able to defeat the British Empire probably a century ago, cut the the Russian might to its present size just a few decades ago and have so far succeded in keeping the American sole super power in the world engaged in Afghanistan on their terms. Please learn from history and show flexibility for achieving your aim, if it be of maintaing a strong hold in Afghanistan.
2. No non-Muslim power can defeat Afghans. I am NOT saying this because Afghans portray and practice true Islam but I am saying it because of the fact that they are Afghans. Afghans can ONLY be lured to be ruled in case you become their FRIEND if you are a Muslim or you become their GUEST if you are a non-Muslim. An oppressor who happens to be a non-Muslim as well has NO chance to rule Aghanistan even if he (the non-Muslim oppressor) turns this country alongwith all its mountains in to dust.
3. American Government would only be doing a very wise thing if it is able to grasp the bitter truth mentioned in above two paragraphs.
4. Answer to the existing Afghan problem (created by the Americans) is ONLY in handing over the command of reorganized forces in Afghanistan under an UNO umbrella comprising only of the countries bordering Afghanistan. It would be wise if they let General Kiani of Pakistan Army head this PEACE mission.

Very, very well written. Thank you for providing us with insight. Thank you for your service. Peace be with you.

Michael, I was very moved by your compelling essay on Afghanistan. I have long felt that the efforts of American and Coalition forces in Afghanistan have been conveniently ignored by far too many Americans. It sometimes seems that if one is not directly effected by having a loved one or friend that is in the fight, it is so much easier to watch the next silly new reality show and live in blissful unawareness of what other Americans are having to endure on our behaves. I have tried to stay at least up to date on the fighting by reading the Times coverage and watching the only real television news, in my opinion, The News Hour on PBS. I have often thought that if the other so called news programs would do as PBS continues to do, and post the names, hometowns and pictures of the dead soldiers at the end of each broadcast, maybe America would stay interested in Her two wars instead of who won Dancing With The Stars.

I have been supporting the troops by sending them care packages thorough an organization called anysoldier.com where random soldiers post their needs on line and you can request their address. With my two children safely in college here in the States I feel it is the very least I can do for my neighbors kids out there in harms way. As the daughter of a Marine Corp Major and Vietnam Vet I remember those deployments all too well. If you want to read a post that is a raw, first hand description of the battles going on in Afghanistan today, by a young grunt Marine, go to the above sight and search for Cpl. Charles Mabry’s post. I guaranty it will move you to want to help in some small way.

Thank you Michael for you service to this country, from this American.

Thanks to the author for this beautifully written piece. So often I have questioned why American troops are even in Afghanistan or Iraq. This article helped bring a little sanity to what often seems to be an an insane venture. If this author is representative of the American soldiers who are there, I feel reassured that America is doing the right thing. Again, thanks to the author, not only for this fine article but for what you endured for our country during your military service. It is people like you and your fellow soldiers who make me continue to believe that America in still the greatest country in the world.

I think those are actually sailors in the picture.
The Navy has a vast role in afghanistan. Certainly there is no role in the ocean besides the pirates...

When there are soldiers and guns, sooner or later, destruction is sure to follow. Our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan is a prime example of the evil of wars. We kill in the name of democracy, kill in the name of nation building, kill for the profit of our Military Industrial Complex, are excuses of a facist state haboring delusions of world dominance.

A nation as prominsing as America living by the sword shall die by the sword. History repeats. What a waste.

(get rid of all Military Industrial Complex for a healthier and safer world)

Good luck to you in the future and may your efforts and those of your fellow marines see fruition in Now Zad. Peace.

world terrorism is a menace to mankind,we all know who is sponsoring terrorism in the world.Terrorism spreads in the name of a particular religion,its origin is from conflict.Now it makes spreads through multifacet ways.This is a strategy of the sponsors of the terrorism.
The sponsors of this particular religion has been already entered in U.S.A.They are islamic fundamentalists.They are cunningly approach youngsters in U.S.A.and offers uncontrolled material pleasures and it enticing them by vitue of their innate feelings.
The young people of U.S.A. gradually become the tools of Islamists and accept islam as their religion,here culminates the ultimate aim of islamists,because they can at any time use these young people against America for fulfilling their mission in U.S.A. Already Islamic terrorist group has got much influance on young people,on politics and the strategic places of U.S.
I have much sorrow in my mind thinking about it.I feel much anxious how to convey this things to the people of America.I have many things to say ,but my present circumstances and surroundings prevent me from this.I want to meet you people personally.
Terrorism must be rooted .out from our world.I am always ready even to die fighting against terrorism,because I want to see our world lying in peace and an excellent generation always enjoying peace and joy.

Thank you NYT for these compelling articles. They have brought the story of the war effort to me in a more real way than most news stories have. It has only been through my friends that I have known of the "real" war that is taking place so far from our shores. So, thank you NYT. I appreciate this type of first hand coverage. But while my thank you to you is sincere, my real thank you goes to this soldier and all of the others who have sacraficed so much for the peace they and we seek.

Mr. Buonocore, thank you for this both heartbreaking and hopeful commentary. A professor of mine told me that life is a series of paradoxes and what you have described appears to be a deep paradox for you. I am glad that you found hope; it is your victory and the victory of those who paid the price in their blood for this moment.

Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts, sadness and hope. Good luck.

Thanks for taking these risks and for sharing this story. Your words bring me closer to the reality there than a reporter's account can. Good luck with your studies and thanks= you for your service. The country is better off for having thoughtful warriors like you.

Dear all:
With all due respect to Michael Buonocore and to his harrowing service, this is a story of how
our invasion turned a peaceful village into a Taliban strong hold and then made its occupants into refugees for years. The fact that they may finally be able to return to their homes after years must from their point of view be just another way station on the way to finally getting rid of the occupiers who have so far so manifestly failed to secure their safety at the most basic level of life and limb for what the writer
admits is most of the time frame of the U.S. occupation now in its ninth year. This reminds me of the
story of Job in which God eventually gives him back new children and livestock for those God allowed
Satan to take away. Before our invasion the writer says they had a school and hospital while after our
invasion they were overrun by the Taiban then driven from their homes for years by our "counterin-surgency" but now can return to their homes where a new school and hospital are being started. I
wonder how grateful anyone could be for such an intervention. I advocated for a massive infusion of
resources into Afghanistan both after the Russians withdrew in the late 80's and after our invasion
in early '02. Instead the Bush/Cheney regime had to be hectored into minimal aide to Afghanis. In fact
over 90% of the the over a hundred billion the U.S. will put into Afghanistan this year will be purely for
U.S. military and its privatized force structure. If even a small portion of the hundreds of billions wasted on the failed military occupation had been spent on the people and infrastructure of Afghanistan it
could now be a 21st century model of what might be for poor people all over the world. Every young
Taliban fighter now working for 60-80 dollars a month trying to kill NATO troops could have had an
education and a job with a future. Last month more U.S. veterans of these repeated deployments
to these failed occupations committed suicide than were killed in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S.
continues to borrow to pay for them both even as it has had a year long "debate" about a reform of its
private health insurance system which will still leave millions of Americans without insurance. It's
time to end the militarized foreign policy of the last decade. Support the troops. Bring them home.
I can only pray that somehow God can turn the policy disaster of the occupations in which they served
into a blessing. The people who planned them are war criminals and should be held to account.

Sincerely,
James E. Van Looy

It is nice to hear something positive coming out of this region, but at what a terrible cost in the lives of those who made it possible.

I am constantly amazed at the perseverence and bravery of our military. The Marines have really had a heavy load to shoulder. I appreciate Michael Buonocores' service and taking the time to write this article.
It's important to keep the US public informed so that we know what the military is going through.
I'm a grandmother with two young Marine friends who deployed to Iraq. I agonized over them like I was their Mother.
Good luck in graduate school, Michael.

Superb piece -- well done.

Nice that they built a girl's school as well as a boy's school.

3 years to secure, sort of, one village? And that security is only as far as our guns can see, so it's really not secure at all.

I'm glad you see this as a victory. To me it says that we're trying to conqure territory where the people simply don't want us.

Why?

Thank you for the story. Insights like this are important to help those of us lucky enought not to be there to put a "face" on the theatre and the people caught up in the events.

This is a very well thought out and powerful piece. I commend the author for his willingness to put a clear perspective on what is to so many in the US an invisible battle. What Michael Buonocore gives us here, in no insignificant way, is a victory as well.

Whenever I read stories like this I can't stop thinking about how difficult it is to be a Marine or soldier in this war. Not only do they conduct countless missions to seek and destroy the enemy, they also conduct countless missions to rebuild the country's communities and their residents' faith that life will return to normal. I have nothing but praise for our men and women who represent us in hostile environments.

As much as some might think my words are full of patriotism, they're actually more than that ... our representatives are on missions larger than that. And, much like all the people helping in Haiti, represent the soul of America -- extending hands of friendship, caring and renewal in lands that have learned to fear us. May their works change the perceptions for now and in the years to come.

Well....... and this is the good news ? I'm afraid that I'm underwhelmed.

A battlefield where the insurgents don't have the benefit of civilian human shields and we could bring our full military firepower to bear? US Forces should be all over the insurgents like Rosie O'Donnell on a box of doughnuts.