Iraq & Afganistan wars

New York Times chief Washington correspondent David Sanger details how President Obama accelerated the use of innovative weapons to fight the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and sped up a wave of cyberattacks against Iran to destroy its nuclear centrifuges.

Journalist Peter Bergen outlines the decade-long search for the al-Qaida leader in his new book Manhunt. Bergen is the only journalist to gain access to bin Laden's Abbottabad compound before it was razed by the Pakastani government.

Tim Arango, the Baghdad bureau chief for The New York Times, shares personal stories from his time covering the war, including how he tracked down the subject of a famous photograph. He also talks about what the U.S. troop withdrawal means for the future of Iraq -- and what will happen after the troops are gone.

More soldiers are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with wounds that would have been fatal a decade ago. The injuries have led to advances in combat medicine but have challenged the health care systems meant to help veterans back home. War reporter David Wood talks with Fresh Air about the hurdles facing these troops and their families.

The Haqqani Network operates in eastern Afghanistan, where it carries out bombings and kidnappings. It was also blamed for the recent bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. New York Times reporter Mark Mazzetti says the network finances its activities partially through extortion money it receives from U.S.-funded contractors in Afghanistan.

In 2009, Peter Van Buren joined a team working to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure and economy. For the next year, he encountered comically misguided projects, greedy contractors and oblivious bureaucrats. In his new book, We Meant Well, he recounts the ground-level waste and corruption he saw.

NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel details what it's like to report from some of the more dangerous war zones on the planet. He also discusses his recent dispatches from Egypt and Libya, where he was subject to tear gas attacks and artillery fire.

Journalist Alissa J. Rubin has spent most of the past 10 years reporting on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. On Thursday's Fresh Air, Rubin talks about the growing corruption and violence in Afghanistan, from which 33,000 U.S. troops are expected to withdraw by the summer of 2012.

America's anti-terrorism strategy has evolved in the years after the Sept. 11 attacks. New York Times reporters Thom Shanker and Eric Schmitt explain some of the tactics used by the United States over the past decade to disrupt al-Quaida both in real life and online.

One of the most common dangers to American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has been homemade remote-controlled bombs. Wired national security writer Noah Shachtman details the ongoing effort to create a device that could stop IEDs before they strike.