William Harvey, the American conductor of the Afghan Youth Orchestra, and Milad Yousoufi, a pianist with the orchestra, discuss the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) bringing its Afghan Youth Orchestra to the United States for the first time. The orchestra was started after the fall of the Taliban to rebuild the musical culture of Afghanistan. The orchestra provide a trade and skill for children (both boys and girls) to help get them off the streets of Kabul.

The Afghan Youth Orchestra is to begin a 12-day U.S. tour that includes concerts at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall and the New England Conservatory in Boston.

General Stanley McChrystal, former commanding officer of all U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, explores the major episodes and controversies of his eventful career. His memoir My Share of the Task is a portrait of his life in the military, and shows how the traditional military establishment turned itself into the adaptive, resilient force that would soon be tested in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the wider War on Terror.

Brian Lehrer talks with Stanley McChrystal, former Commander of US Forces in Afghanistan and author of My Share of the Task: A Memoir.

In February 1989, after nine long years, the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan. Today, as the United States transitions out of the country, Nikolas Gvosdev, professor of national security studies at the U.S. Naval War College, says that Americans have plenty of lessons to learn from the Soviet withdrawal. 

In parts of Afghanistan robust local government institutions have taken hold. As the Obama administration prepares for the pullout of American forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, a question rises: Could these institutions hold the key to a stable future for the country? David Loyn, the BBC’s international development correspondent, has been reporting from Afghanistan on the run-up to the transition.

For NATO, 2012 has been a key year in Afghanistan, as troops there prepare to hand over power to Afghan security forces next year. As far as the challenges that lie ahead, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says he recognizes that countries in the alliance are economically strapped, a condition that could impact their defense budgets.

A day after the final courts-martial, the family of Pvt. Danny Chen said they were disappointed by the outcome of the trials of eight soldiers from their son’s platoon who were charged with hazing and abuse that culminated in his suicide two years ago.

Despite more than a decade of international efforts to support women in Afghanistan, female entrepreneurs remain relatively rare. But one Afghan woman is trying to show the men a thing or two about making high-quality furniture in Afghanistan.

Tamim Ansary describes the many battles within Afghanistan—struggles between Kabul and the countryside, between order and chaos, between a modernist impulse to join the world and the pull of an older Afghanistan: a tribal universe of village republics permeated by Islam. In Games without Rules: The Often Interrupted History of Afghanistan, he draws on his Afghan background, Muslim roots, and Western and Afghan sources to explain history from the inside out.

Can we stop to think for a second about how staggeringly pointless it is to expect sexual and moral purity from the head of the CIA?

Eleven climbers, all scarred in some way by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, tackle a Himalayan climb in Michael Brown's documentary.

Thomas Ricks discusses the decline of American military leadership from World War II to Iraq. History has been kind to the American generals of World War II—Marshall, Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley—and less kind to the generals of the wars that followed. He looks at why in his new book The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today.

When you see a U.S. soldier standing next to an Afghan one, the difference is striking. U.S. troops are saddled down with much more high-tech equipment. But many say handing over better devices won't actually be helpful for soldiers who still need the fundamentals.

Reporting from Afghanistan is challenging in more than just a security sense. While NATO sources tend to give out minimal information, local officials often give inaccurate initial accounts. Death counts and dates don't add up, as reporters try to get their stories straight.

Witnesses say a man detonated a suicide vest outside a mosque, killing many civilians and police officers. It happened in part of the country normally thought to be safe, but where another attack this week left five police officers dead.

On a foot patrol in Kandahar, Nick Staback lost both of his legs after he stepped on a homemade bomb. Over the next year, his mother, Maria, became a tough coach as he learned to walk on two prosthetic legs, and together they adjusted to what she calls the "new normal" for their family.

Joshua Hersh, who covers foreign policy for the Huffington Post, discusses the latest on what’s happening in Afghanistan and the role  it will play (or not) in tonight’s presidential debate.