Reporting From Afghanistan's Front Line

The Road Ahead: CBS News Producers, Reporters and Camera Crew Reflect on Their Time Covering Afghanistan

(CBS)  As the war in Afghanistan continues, we bring you battlefield accounts from our CBS News colleagues who have been covering the story from the front lines.

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Randall Joyce: There was one incident that really drove home how easy it is to make friends in Afghanistan but it is even easier to make enemies.

I am Randall Joyce -- I'm a producer and I first came to Afghanistan in 2001.

Jim Axelrod:
Our whole goal was to get as close to the Taliban outpost as we could. I'm Jim Axelrod a CBS News Correspondent and I was in Afghanistan right after 9/11.

Joyce:
We were sitting on a roof of a mud fort held by the Northern Alliance - the one group that had successfully fought against the Taliban and not been conquered.

Axelrod:
And we were watching as some planes started to come over and they were U.S. bombers. And the commander turned and said "we appreciate all of your support. We are on your side, But if that (bombing) continues -- you'll be our enemy as well."

Video: CBS News Reporters' Reflections on the War
CBS News Special Report: The Road Ahead

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Lara Logan: It's very frustrating for the soldiers to have this enemy that can't be seen and just have to take it.

I'm Lara Logan, and I've been to going to Afghanistan every year since 9/11. There was one occasion with the Marines where we spent five-and-a-half hours in a canal in sewage water. When the water dries off you are covered in flies because it is sewage water that you are wearing. You are inhaling fecal matter in the air that you breathe. And in the midst of all of that you are being shot at and people are trying to kill you.

You are often chasing shadows. And you know that they are watching all the time. They are watching your every move. I don't know if people will ever understand what it's like.

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Terry McCarthy: This trip we flew down to Gardez where we came across this young Afghan policeman who had been shot in the leg.

I'm Terry McCarthy, correspondent for CBS News and I first came to Afghanistan in 2001.

He was in an American field hospital, and before they put him under he begged the American medic not to cut off his leg. The damage was pretty significant. When we saw him he had come up for the operation and he was trying to sit up and look and see whether his leg was still attached or not and the sense of fear and panic in his eyes just struck me. What is he doing? This young kid in this war he really didn't understand.

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Randall Pinkston: Our team was the first to gain access to the caves that we had heard so much about - al Qaeda's caves.

I'm Randall Pinkston, CBS News. I was in Afghanistan five times since 2001.

I saw this particular cave and said, 'let's go to that one.' The guardian of the cave told us we can come into the cave.

It did occur to me that I might go in that cave and not come out.

So he doesn't have a flashlight, and he's using a cigarette lighter and he's showing me the cave and I'm petrified when I realized the cave was filled with ammunition. Thankfully nothing exploded or we would not be having this conversation now. Seeing that cave was just a reminder of how dangerous that entire country was and to a great extent still is today.

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Nick Turner:
I first came from Moscow with Soviet troops and in fact filmed the final departure of the Soviet troops over the friendship bridge into Uzbekistan in 1989.

I'm Nick Turner -- I'm a CBS News Cameraman.

I was film filming in the ruins of a trolley bus park. They had been used as barricades during the civil war 10 years earlier. And I realized as I filmed them that I had filmed the same trolley busses working in 1982 when I first came with the Soviets where I saw men and women going about their business dressed in ordinary clothes.

So, can I look around Kabul now and see any progress made since 1982?

No. I can't.

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More special coverage on CBSNews.com:
Medevac Helicopter Crews Saving Lives in Afghanistan
Marines in Afghanistan: A Day in the Life
Taliban Gaining Firepower and Confidence
Battle of Wanat - Inside the Ambush
Afghanistan, 8 Years In: How We Got Here

[mawskrat]

Muslims can never be friends with non-Muslims. they will use us, our money and men and women but in the long run we are infidels. our leaders and media should study what the Noble Koran really says.

[jjponiv]

Why is the text keyed in was not the same as the text that was keyed in? Not to mention, that this web site made it very difficult to enter the comment that was keyed in in the first place.

[CharlieT51]

Your reporters make a great deal of money to be on the front lines. It seems more than a little gratuitous of you to pat yourselves on the back on the evening news. Your reporting more often than not is biased against our soldiers and our fight against terrorists. Sometimes I feel you are aiding our enemies.

[jjponiv]

Viewed the Coric report on sorrespondent?s reporting in war zones. Why are the reports shown as ?people of color? when the war zone is shown in black and white? Despicable!

A Caucasian American.