Kevin Sites
The Islamic State and Kurdish Peshmerga Are Clashing Over a Small Town in Iraq
Over the summer I embedded with a unit of the Peshmega, the Kurdish troops fighting the Islamic State in northern Iraq.
The Former Beauty Queen Lawyering in Afghanistan's Sharia Courts
An excerpt from journalist Kevin Sites's new book, Swimming with Warlords.
The Kabul Zoo Is a Rare Afghan Success Story
The tale of Marjan the lion became an entry point for many Americans in understanding the larger story of Afghanistan. It was a narrative of war, hardship, and survival presented through a battle-scarred symbol of the Afghan people, their outlast-them...
America's Favorite Drone Over Afghanistan (It's Not the Predator)
Geography rules in eastern Afghanistan. Rugged mountains and rocky plains make it a difficult trek for people, but well-suited for donkeys and drones.
Anatomy of a Mortar Attack
US Army Private First Class Brian Wintering and Specialist Shannon Kelley were hanging around their heavily armored vehicle known as an MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) when the round hit. Wintering and Kelley scrambled to get to the combat aid...
Afghanistan's Game of Drones
Geography rules in eastern Afghanistan. Rugged mountains and rocky plains make it a difficult trek for people, but well-suited for drones. The Shadow 200, made by the AAI Corporation, is the width of a garage door. Depending on its configuration, it...
The Enduring Art of Afghanistan
Despite the conflict and the former Taliban regime, who opposed the depiction of any human or animal forms in photographs, drawings, or paintings, art has not only survived in Afghanistan, but has re-emerged as a creative and provocative force in Kabul.
Donkey Bomber Kills Three US Soldiers and an Interpreter
On Tuesday at 8:30 AM, about the time soldiers wrap up their patrol around the mud houses and walled compounds of the Sayadabad district, a suicide bomber riding a donkey came close enough to kill three US soldiers, their Afghan interpreter, and wound...
Afghanistan's Opium Plague
In West Kabul there is a bridge called Pul-sokhta where hundreds of Afghan drugs addicts gather to shoot up heroin, smoke, buy, and sell drugs or nod off after using. Raw sewage flows openly under the bridge and garbage covers nearly every inch of...
Afghanistan's Skate Camp for Kids
Fareed Wahidi is tearing it up. The 16-year old Afghan looks like he was born on a deck, plunging down a steep ramp and blasting off the other side. Until two years ago he’d never seen a real skateboard. Now he makes it look like part of his body.
Afghanistan's Great Wall of Bones
The wall’s creation story is a dark one. King Zamburak in the sixth century was said to have been a brutal monarch, forcing all his male subjects to work on the wall, which runs along the Sher Darwaza mountains. Those who refused were said to have been...
Confessions of a Taliban Fighter
“If I met you a few years ago, I would’ve killed you. Killing [was] the first option, because we were really angry with the foreigners. We would use a Kalashnikov (AK-47) to kill you. And we would be very happy, because it was really good for us to...