I see occasional convoys of Toyota Hilux pickups packed with Taliban heading on the road toward the Panshir Valley, where fighting still continues. Even so, the country is mostly at peace, in marked contrast to the tumult and terror of earlier years. My memories of my previous trips are dominated by violence. One night I was with an American medevac crew as they picked up a body on a hillside. It turned out to be the 19-year-old son of an American soldier who happened to have been deployed in the same unit. The teenager had been shot in the head on one of his first patrols. Blood oozed through a tear in the body bag and coated the floor of the helicopter. In another incident, I remember an Afghan soldier, hysterical with fear after regaining consciousness, thrashing and biting until the sedative kicked in. He never woke up. Link in bio for full piece. @vanityfair