Occasionally there will be a news report that 30 insurgents were killed in this place, 20 Taliban defeated in that place, but this is a surreal conflict, a narrative without clear beginnings and endings, without substantiation. High explosive is zooming back and forwards, so the enemy is certainly there, but go to the position from where they have been firing and there is usually nothing to be seen. Once, we arrived at a compound from where there had been firing and found four glasses and a teapot set out on a tray; the tea in the pot was still hot enough to drink. But you don't see anything, not a thing. I never even saw a blood trail. It's like a ghost war.Sean Smith in The Guardian, "Three months on the frontline with troops in Afghanistan", Monday 17 August 2009
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