Brutal, tribal justice in Afghanistan
On his knees, Nawroz prays. He is a condemned man about to die in a brutal way.
His crime: The killing of his lover's husband.
The judge: A local warlord in Kand, Afghanistan.
The executioner: The victim's father.
A mobile phone video captured the grisly scene.
Read the full story from CNN's Nick Paton Walsh and Moni Basu
Sacrifices in America's longest war
During a vist to Bagram Air Base - the nerve center of American operations in Afghanistan - CNN's Nick Paton Walsh takes a look at the sacrifices members of the U.S. military have made in America's longest war.
Afghan war's start from an Afghan's perspective
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh talks to a man who, at age 16, watched the first bombs fall in Afghanistan 10 years ago.
Rabbani's killing spurs uncomfortable questions about the war
[cross-posted from CNN's Security Clearance blog]
By CNN's Nick Paton Walsh in Islamabad, Pakistan
Whatever peace process there was in Afghanistan, there is probably little left today.
The assassination Tuesday of Professor Burhanudin Rabbani in his home by at least one suicide bomber who hid a device in his turban hasn't just again reminded residents of Kabul that even the safest areas are vulnerable to insurgent attacks. It's surely made insurgents who have even the slightest whimsy to negotiate think again. FULL POST
Revisiting the house where bin Laden lived
After Osama bin Laden was killed in May, the house where he was found was teeming with journalists and quite open. Now, the Pakistan Army surrounds the house with vegetation growing thick around it. Things have definitely changed.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh travels to Abbotabad, Pakistan, to visit one of the few reminders of the architect of the September 11, 2011, attacks as the world is still asking – how did bin Laden live here so long?
Inside a firefight between U.S. troops, insurgents
Embedded with U.S. troops in Afghanistan, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh captures U.S. troops in action as a military outpost in Taliban territory comes under fire Tuesday and Wednesday.
MORE: Photos of the attack
U.S. troops use mortars first on Tuesday, aiming for Taliban dug into the hills. Machine guns rattle through the air. But the incoming fire on U.S. Combat Outpost Pirtle King is very accurate. Then, four massive airstrikes, as U.S. jets strafe the hills. The Taliban falls silent.
The next morning, it starts again - mortars and RPGs pound the base, and for the second time in 24 hours the base is under attack.
On Afghanistan's eastern border, Kunar Valley is vital strategically. If the Americans leave, militants from Pakistan will flow through the valley. If they stay, then every few days, attacks like those on Tuesday and Wednesday happen.
In the deadly valley of Kunar
Kunar, Afghanistan — Kunar province, on Afghanistan's eastern border, is as alluring to outsiders as it is unwelcoming.
It's a key transit route for militants from Pakistan. But it's also been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting for U.S. troops in the 10-year war.
In a tiny outpost, Pirtle King, troops test mortars against an insurgency that is rarely seen but frequently attacks from all sides. FULL POST
Lashkar Gah: Inside the new Afghanistan
NATO wants to give Lashkar Gah - the capital of the volatile Helmand province - over to the Afghans to handle security from July onward. But allegations of police brutality, Taliban prevalence and violence abound. Is this really the Afghanistan we want to leave behind. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports.
Voices from inside Afghanistan
Three veterans of Afghanistan's conflict reflect on their years there and their hopes for the embattled country. Journalist Carlotta Gall, American John Christopher Turner (who has worked on and off in Afghanistan since the 1960s) and Afghan opposition leader Dr. Abdullah Abdullah weigh in on what it will mean when the U.S. troops begin withdrawing.
"I think you're going to have instability and insurgency still," says Gall. "And you're going to have people very nervous - who are anti-Taliban - who will start agitating to say we have to defend ourselves. ... There's great trepidation in 'what's next?'" FULL POST
Afghan public tiring of foreign troops
Kabul, Afghanistan - Ahead of President Obama's speech, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports from Afghanistan about how Afghans are feeling about the U.S. troops in their country.
As Walsh says, the withdrawal makes sense domestically for the U.S. but in terms of Afghans and how they will perceive it, "it's very much restructuring the NATO presence here, and giving them the simple idea that there's a new fiscal landscape ahead in which they're going to have to come to some kind of accommodation with the insurgency. ...
"I think [Afghan officials] aren't speaking directly about the withdrawal until it's made entirely public by Obama, but the public here frankly are beginning to be tired of the presence of foreign troops. They've had foreign troops that are out here for the last 30 years or so. And while many see the NATO contribution as having tried to bring a better life here to Afghanistan, I think there are genuine concerns that they need to get on with their lives themselves without foreign interference as some see here. Many refer to American troops here as occupiers, and frankly want to see them get hold of their own country, their own sovereignty again."
