There's a surge in Afghanistan - of journalists.
We don't know how many troops President Barack Obama is going to send to Afghanistan. But we know journalists are streaming into the country.
The News & Observer's Jay Price and Chuck Liddy will be there for a month or so, covering the war for our parent company, The McClatchy Co.
Many of the U.S. forces are from Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan is KarlEikenberry, who grew up in Goldsboro, 50 miles southeast of Raleigh, and is a 1969 graduate of Goldsboro High School.
Price and Liddy will report for a national audience - McClatchy owns 30 daily newspapers across the country, from Anchorage, Alaska, to Miami. They will also report stories of special significance to readers of The N&O.
"I want to illuminate how, in many ways, this is North Carolina's war in what happens to be perhaps the most critical year here," Price said viae-mail from Afghanistan.
Price and Liddy are veteran war correspondents. Liddy has worked twice in Iraq; Price has reported from there four times (working with Liddy on two of those trips). This is their second trip to Afghanistan, a place that has a special pull on Price, who has visited dozens of countries.
"I wanted to come back because this is an extraordinary place in many ways," Price said. "It's a dramatically beautiful country, particularly in the mountains and out among small villages, where little has changed in a thousand years.
"The people, too, are extra ordinary. They have a long tradition of hospitality to match their tradition of being tough fighters."
Price and Liddy make a good team. Price, 48, who has worked for The N&O since 1993, is reserved. Liddy, 55, who also has worked here since 1993, is, uh, outspoken. His irreverent motormouth, which gives his supervisors heartburn (including me), endears him to the troops, especially the enlisted men.
Together, they do great work. When a reporter and photographer collaborate, each benefits. Price and Liddy watch each other's back. They also share information that helps each tell stories.
When they are not poking fun at each other, Price says Liddy is "a shockingly good photographer," and Liddy says Price is "a trench guy" who can talk equally well with generals and privates.
The last time they were in Afghanistan, in 2005, they produced the series, "The Forgotten War." Thereweren't many reporters around. But even though there are a plethora of reporters there now, Price and Liddy, both with deep roots in North Carolina, make the perfect team to cover this war for our readers.
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