[1] PBS NewsHour’s Jeffrey Brown talks to Edward Girardet about his new book, Killing the Cranes, which details his personal experiences in Afghanistan — including a debate with Osama bin Laden — and the history of a country at war for nearly 30 years. Girardet began reporting from Afghanistan in 1979, shortly before the Soviet invasion. From the transcript:

JEFFREY BROWN: Now, as the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, we look back with a veteran foreign correspondent at the long years of war in Afghanistan, where American troops have fought ever since the attacks on the U.S. …

Along the way, he’s trekked hundreds of miles through rugged mountains and had innumerable adventures, including a 1989 encounter with Osama bin Laden and his Arab fighters.

In early September 2001, Girardet was waiting to interview Ahmad Shah Massoud, a key resistance leader, when he met a pair of North African men who said they were television journalists also there to interview Massoud. In fact, the two were suicide bombers dispatched by al-Qaida. And their assassination of the popular Afghan fighter foreshadowed the 9/11 attack on the United States just two days later.

Girardet’s new book, Killing the Cranes, is filled with such details, mixing personal experience with the history of a country at war for nearly 30 years.

Watch the video below, or [2] on NewsHour’s site.

Watch the [3] full episode. See more [4] PBS NewsHour.

UPDATE: Ed Girardet will also be appearing on the Kojo Nnamdi show Thursday September 8 at noon Eastern time: [5] http://thekojonnamdishow.org/

And on NPR’s Morning Edition Friday September 9 at 8:30am: [6] http://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/