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Mandy Clark is a CBS News Digital Journalist based in Afghanistan. In this blog, she previews her story for the CBS Evening News.

Nine young boys were tricked into delivering a bomb for the Taliban. It is the story of Eidullah and his friends. I came across the story on a military base in Khost, Eastern Afghanistan when a few of the boys had come for a check up. Military doctors saved their lives.

The boys were asked to deliver a fruit basket to a local commander working with U.S. forces. What they didn’t know was hidden in the basket was a bomb. It exploded early and injuring the boys. Two lost legs, one went blind, all their lives changed in a flash.

Using children is new terror tactic that is growing in Afghanistan. Doctors at the combat hospital say they are seeing child bombers more frequently.
Eidullah was one of the boys who lost his leg. When I met him, his face was etched with worry. He used to run his father’s shop in his village. His father is blind and as the oldest son it’s up to him to take care of his mother and 6 siblings. He doubts he can. It is hard to believe such responsibility for an 11-year-old.

Nine year old Mohammad’s father begged doctors not to amputate his leg, but the blast took out his sciatic nerve. His right leg is now dead. He has no feeling and no control over it. It will need to be removed in the future but the doctors respected the father’s wishes.

Even when it is amputated, it’s unlikely Eidullah or Mohammad will ever get a prosthetic leg, they are simply too poor to afford it. They will join the 50 thousand other Afghan civilians amputated by 30 years of continuous war.
Despite the agony from their injuries, not one of the boys complained. They were near stoic with their new reality given to them by a terrorist.

The bombing that changed the lives of these boys happened on September 11th. A terrible reminder of how it always seems to be their lives of the innocence that are torn apart by terrorism and war.

A month ago, four men on motorcycles opened fire on a female council member in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

She was murdered by the Taliban for fighting for women's rights in her country.

More than 80 percent of women in Afghanistan are illiterate, but the Taliban make an education nearly impossible. Last year, a group of girls was doused with acid in front of their school - some were burned severely.

As the Taliban regroups and gains strength, Afghan women risk an erosion of any gains made since the war began in 2001, and lawmakers are doing little to protect them.

A recent law passed by Parliament would allow marital rape. President Hamid Karzai has said it will be amended, but one wonders how it was passed in the first place.

As the United States formulates a new approach during these dark days in Afghanistan, it must not forget to lift a lamp, as Emma Lazarus wrote, to illuminate a path to basic human rights.

That's a page from my notebook.

A ceasefire sounds like a good thing, and for civilians living in Pakistan's Swat Valley, it may be.

But both U.S. and NATO officials have expressed grave concern over Pakistan's decision to stop fighting Taliban forces in a region close to Afghanistan's border.

The truce agreement allows the militant stronghold to be run under Islamic Law.

This week, President Hamid Karzai and U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke had a successful meeting. The Pentagon announced it would send an additional 17,000 troops. The common goal is clear: keep Afghanistan out of the hands of the Taliban.

Pakistan's move is considered a big step back, at a time when boots on the ground are trying to move forward.

Most experts agree, Pakistan would be more stable if it kept fighting and the Taliban would be weaker without this time to regroup. This is one case where peace may just be the calm before the storm.

Lara Logan strapped on her bullet proof vest and dropped into Afghanistan -- and a close encounter of the Taliban kind.

Click the screen to see and hear more.

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