Untold Stories

India: New slideshows posted!

Click on the image to view more photographs of the Naxalites, police and militia, and the tribal villagers in the region.

India: Trouble in Paradise

The bus ride from Hyderabad to Dantewada, the main town of Chhattisgarh’s southern Bastar region, took about 16 hours. As the suburbs fell away, the smooth pavement on the road disappeared as well, but the lush beauty of the countryside that seemed to intensify with each mile made up for it.

When I awoke to a pale morning, I had the sensation of hurtling deeper into vortex of green.

India: Voice of a Revolution

After a lifetime of spouting anti-govern ment vitriol, Varavara Rao has an easy smile. But when the silver-haired revolutionary poet greeted me at his Hyderabad apartment, his eyes burned like those of a man with plenty more in his tank.

The 67-year-old Rao has been the voice of India’s Maoist movement since it began four decades ago. His advocacy of armed struggle against the government -- a view that stands in tact today -- moved him to found the Revolutionary Writers’ Association in 1970 in support of the Naxalbari uprising.

India: The Trailhead

Hyderabad goes by the nickname “Cyberabad” for its thriving info-tech sector. Along with Bangalore, the two cities comprise the heart of India’s software empire thanks to high levels of education, job growth, and investment.

It seemed an unlikely place to start reporting on the murky Naxalite movement. But a veteran Indian journalist friend in Delhi insisted that to understand the roots of the insurgency, this is where I needed to go first.

Afghanistan: The Road Ahead

Afghanistan is often called the forgotten war, but it shouldn't be.

We've just spent the month looking at Khost province and looking at the security and reconstruction effort through the eyes of the Americans and Afghans.

Khost is strategic province. It is a political and military hub and has one of the longest borders with Pakistan. It was also a haven for al Qaeda and where Mohamed Atta and several of the other hijackers trained.

Arguably, Khost is where Sept. 11 started and it is also here that the Americans and Afghans are making progress.

Reconstruction aid is flying in, security has drastically improved and for the most part Khostis are happy. They are also busy building multi-story buildings in town and barracks on Forward Operating Base Salerno.

Afghanistan can be won; it is just going to take a lot more work and resources.

Forget opium right now. Too many policy makers are trying to solve an economic problem (poppies are Afghanistan's only cash crop) with a moral solution (drugs are bad and should be destroyed). The only solution may be to subsidies the crops, but there are bigger issues first.

Like roads.

To continue reading Kevin Maurer and Andrew Craft's blog, click here.

To read more about Fort Bragg East: Rebuilding Afghanistan, click here.

Afghanistan: Lucky Charms

Like baseball players, Maj. Michele Curtis-Jackson, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade physician’s assistant, says all medics fly with luck charms... she carries seven.

1) Heart Shaped D-rings -- the rings in all colors are used to hang up IV bags and secure other things in the helicopter. Curtis-Jackson says they represent the heart of the soldier.

2) Secret Squirrel -- Hooked to her "monkey tail," the strap that connects her to the helicopter so that she can stand up and work on patients, is a stuffed squirrel. It was given to her by the chief of surgery. She strokes it before take-off so that the mission will get launch approval faster.

3) POW/MIA flag -- In her right leg pocket, she has the flag given to her by Thomas Parent, who was killed in a motorcyle crash days before she deployed...

To continue reading Kevin Maurer and Andrew Craft's blog, click here.

To read more about Fort Bragg East: Rebuilding Afghanistan, click here.

Liberia: Q&A with Cholo Brooks: A Liberian Journalist

Cholo Brooks worked for the BBC African Service during the war. Now he runs a local news agency, Global News Network in Liberia. His book "The Rise and Fall of Charles Taylor" will be out early next year.

He took the time to speak to us about the challenges facing Liberian youth after the war.

Continue reading "Q&A with Cholo Brooks: A Liberian Journalist"

Afghanistan: Dustoff

Company C, 3rd General Support Aviation Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, is the only medevac company in Afghanistan. Divided into four platoons, the "All American Dustoff" company is based at forward operations bases in the eastern and southern portions of Afghanistan.

When ever the call goes out, it comes to them.

They've hoisted wounded soldiers using a winch in the helicopter and braved enemy fire several times. The pilots, medics and crew chiefs have a single minded mentality... save the patient...

To continue reading Kevin Maurer and Andrew Craft's blog, click here.

To read more about Fort Bragg East: Rebuilding Afghanistan, click here.

India: A Deadly Year

The Naxals are getting more lethal. So the Asian Center for Human Rights (ACHR), a Delhi-based think tank, concludes in its latest report. According to their estimate, at least 384 people were killed in the Naxalite conflict from January to September of this year.

A series of high profile attacks in recent months bear testimony. A massive landmine blast a month ago nearly killed former Andra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Janardhan Reddy and his wife near a rural village; three members of his escort didn’t make it back. In the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, the epicenter of Naxalite activity, 24 police officers were killed in July. Fifteen more security personnel (including Special Police Officers) also died in an August 29 ambush close to a district police station.

Liberia: Randall Street

David has his jeans rolled up where his right leg should be. He's working Randall Street, dodging traffic, trying to hit up his old standbys for his weekly handout of 5 Liberian Dollars. His first two attempts wield nothing. Then the jackpot: A woman at a kitchenware store hands him a 5. Security guards, who themselves make barely enough to feed their families, see David and give a little, but the relief is short-lived -- two more storeowners who usually give are nowhere to be found.

At the next shop, a security guard sees David and Peter coming and hands them both a 5. But David had been by earlier and sees the man's generosity as a trick. He hands him back the money and whispers to me, "He's tryin' me to see if I take it." On the streets all a man has is his integrity...

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