Will The Afghan War Be Covered By The News Media When The Americans Leave?

Photo from AFJC

When A Bomb Goes Off In Afghanistan -- Heidi Vogt, The Daily Beast

For four years, foreign correspondent Heidi Vogt was always one of the first people to file when a bomb went off in Afghanistan. But as U.S. troops begin to draw down, there is also a corresponding press drawdown that will prevent Americans from hearing the full story.

KABUL, Afghanistan — The first thing is always the boom. Then the rattling of window frames. Then I look up from my computer for someone to make eye contact with. My Afghan colleague does the same. “Was that?” “Did you feel?” We both rush for the stairs, running up to the roof to look for smoke. As I go, I flip through other options in my head: Earthquake? No. Gas tank explosion? Unlikely. The military blowing up a weapons cache? Maybe.

When I reach the roof, the photographers and cameramen are already there. They always run faster, because they need the images. They're filming a black puff rising across town and debating what building may have been hit—maybe a government ministry, maybe an embassy, maybe a hotel. I go downstairs to make phone calls. From my desk, I hear a car pulling out of the compound—video and photo on their way.

It’s 8:30 a.m. and I haven’t had coffee yet.

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My Comment: Once U.S. forces have left .... Afghanistan will be covered by the wire services but through their stringers. If the fighting should escalate to a level that the Afghan regime may fall .... they will then return en masse.