"'I come from a country that no longer exists, you see. I come from Afghanistan', a man told me in Rome years ago.

"I went to Afghanistan two weeks after the September 11th terrorist attacks. I was on assignment for American Vanity Fair. I did two different trips to Afghanistan with the British journalist Janine di Giovanni. For my first trip into Afghanistan, I followed the Northern Alliance troops located in the north town of Dasht-e-Qala. I spent almost 20 days waiting between the front lines and the 'journalist force headquarters' in Khoje Bahauddin for an offensive that never arrived or...