Seven years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban, the country faces an increasingly uncertain future. While it has made great strides forward, political and religious killings are increasingly common in Kabul and southern Afghanistan. Pratap Chatterjee and Nobu Sakamoto return to the country as part of a CorpWatch/KPFA collaboration to take stock.

In January 2002, we arrived in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif to film a country emerging from religious dictatorship. We recorded an audio documentary for the National Radio Project, "Let's Go To Mazar." (A video version may be seen here.)

In 2006, freelance journalist Fariba Nawa produced an investigative report for CorpWatch titled: "Afghanistan, Inc." that profiled the failure of reconstruction in Afghanistan. (You can read an article on how she did this at the Sunday Times (UK): "How the West short-changed Afghanistan."

In 2008 our initial observations and interviews show that the situation has continued to deteriorate. In the coming weeks we will blog regularly from the field to follow up on those previous reports and bring you new information.

A snapshot of the situation may be found in some recent incidents. For example James Palmer of the Guardian (UK) reported last week that a $190 million road project from Kabul to Kandahar that was once trumpeted as "the most visible sign of America's post-war reconstruction" has become "a symbol of instability across the country, the failure of government and international security forces to maintain law and order, and the increasing presence of the Taliban" after 30 people were massacred on a bus traveling on the road October 19th.

In the capital city of Kabul, two shootings of foreign workers have struck fear in the heart of international aid workers. Briton Gayle Williams was killed on October 20 when she walked to work at "Serve Afghanistan," a Christian charity. Her killing was allegedly in protest against the organization's missionary work, although the group has denied that they are involved in proselytizing.

On October 25, two DHL executives were shot dead by their private security guard from a company named Saladin, who then took his own life. Investgators believe that the killing was in revenge for the efforts of Jason Bresler, the South African country director of DHL, to prevent DHL being used as a conduit for a portion of Afghanistan's heroin output.

The situation has become so grave that Afghan president Hamid Karzai has sought Saudi help to negotiate peace with the Taliban, according to John Burns of the New York Times.

Stay tuned for live reports from Afghanistan as we explore these and other subjects ranging from the rebuilding of girls' schools to the building of new madrassas, and ask political experts what the future holds for Afghanistan, particularly in the wake next week's U.S. elections.