Reality Check

From Afghanistan. Remember Afghanistan?

“There seem to be factory-loads of Taleban out there now,” said Bariolai, another Afghan trucker, all spit and oil stains, waiting in the Bagram vehicle line. “You should see some of the southern areas we go to — burnt-out vehicles all along the roads, locals who would eat you if you didn’t have armed protection. Only three days ago, I saw four bodies by the verge, three of them beheaded. One was a guy I knew, an engineer constructing American camps. The other three were his bodyguards. The Talebs had just got them.”
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This route linking the country’s two biggest cities is of strategic importance, though since the summer it has become a virtual no-go zone for supply convoys unless very heavily protected. One Western contractor, employed to manage transport for a construction company moving materials to foreign troops in the south, said that he was dramatically reducing his operation. “We’ve lost five staff and our guards have killed thirty-four people in the last month and we’re just a construction company,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.