Check out this photo gallery of Camp Lejeune Marines in a firefight. Scott Sharpe just posted these online.

Here is some info about the photographer, David Goldman, who is shooting in Afghanistan for the Associated Press. Most of the photos in the gallery are by him.

Here's an opportunity to do a good deed and get a good deal at the same time.

All this month, Lynn's and Daphne's Hallmark stores in the Triangle are collecting donations to send recordable storybooks to soldiers serving in Afghanistan who won't be home to celebrate the holidays with their kids.

Now you see it, now you don't.

A federal Inspector General conducted an audit of the Kabul Bank that revealed that the bank was operating as a personal piggy bank for ruling class in the capital of Afghanistan. The U.S. had touted the bank and the Afghan financial sector as a rare U.S. success stories in Afghanistan.

Secrecy News reports that the federal government has removed the audit from public view. Apparently the federal government, after the fact, classified some documents used in the audit.

The Washington Post wrote some groundbreaking stories on problems at the bank.

Another good HBO documentary is on tonight.

"The Battle for Marjah" is the story of the U.S. Marines’ battle to liberate a key Afghanistan town, as told by journalist Ben Anderson, who spent two months with the American forces there.

Anderson offers an intimate look at the brutal realities of modern-day warfare in the United States' largest offensive in the war to date.

Here's more info from HBO: Operation Moshtarak was the first attack launched after the administration announced plans to send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, serving as a key test of the U.S. counter-insurgency strategy against the Taliban. The campaign had four distinct phases: clear Marjah of Taliban, hold all ground seized, build infrastructure and governance, and transfer control to Afghan security forces.

In addition to chronicling the operation, "The Battle for Marjah" asks whether the policy is a successful prototype for winning this kind of war.

Tonight's premiere marks the first anniversary of that historic battle.

"The Battle for Marjah" airs at 9pm on HBO.

Check out the trailer below.

If you want to see what it looks like when Marines go out on patrol in Afghanistan, look at Chuck Liddy's photo gallery on our site.

Here's a story for the 'whoodathunk?' category: U.S. tax dollars funding the Taliban's operations via private contracts:  "In fact, US military officials in Kabul estimate that a
minimum of 10 percent of the Pentagon's logistics contracts--hundreds of
millions of dollars--consists of payments to insurgents."

Our DC colleague Jonathan Landay is one of the best national security reporters working that difficult beat. He just published this article on how Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have learned to cripple the expensive armored vehicle that give U.S. troops the best protection against roadside bombs.

If you didn't catch CBS News' focus on Afghanistan last week, here's another chance to get educated.

Frontline presents "Obama's War," a thorough and powerful hour-long
look at the central questions facing the Obama administration and the challenges facing the American military. It airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. on UNC-TV.

I picked up the phone and the caller asked for me.

I identified myself and the caller said "Hi Adrienne, it's Katie Couric."

OK, so I was expecting the call. The CBS News anchor was calling to discuss "Afghanistan: The Road Ahead," a three-day examination the network is doing on the war in Afghanistan. From today through Wednesday, the 6:30 evening broadcast will break form, using more than half of its half-hour to feature reporting on the complexities of the war.

In a series of photos taken the first 10 days of June, Associated Press photojournalist Rafiq Maqbool documented medical personnel and injured ... more