^[1] TARINKOT, AFGHANISTAN: Last week I asked my friends here in Uruzgan province to help me organize an interview with a Taliban militant. A few hours later I found myself face to face with the young man pictured in these photos.

I am an independent journalist. My writing favors neither the Taliban nor the Afghan government. But to secure this interview I had to tell the young Taliban that I wanted everyone to know about his jihad. The Taliban only grant interviews if they feel confident that they will be presented in a positive light.

The Taliban posed for me and I took a few pictures. He tried his best to look tough in the photos. I learned that he was visiting some relatives in Tarinkot but that he was based in Darosh, an area about four kilometers outside of the city. The garage where we met belonged to his family.

I did not press him with too many questions, because I knew I would not get much out of him and I worried about alarming him and possibly making him turn on me.

^[2] A veil of calm prevails in the city of Tarinkot these days—which is not to say that instability and danger are not omnipresent. I have learned that many Taliban militants have siblings, uncles, aunts, and cousins all over town.

The militants come secretly during the night and hide weapons and explosives in safe houses like the one where I met the young Taliban. Then they leave in the daytime to return to their strongholds in the villages.

The people who live in Tarinkot know all about this. They know exactly who is a Taliban and who is a policeman. They know the families of these people and their political loyalties. It is all common knowledge. But residents of Tarinkot are reluctant to share this knowledge with outsiders due of a general sense of mistrust.

Most people here have come to believe that the foreign troops will leave sooner or later. It’s only a matter of time. Yet, nobody knows what will happen then. Will the Afghan government fall? Will the Taliban take over?

I like what one of my friends from Tarinkot told me: “The Taliban are not going to go away. It would be unrealistic to think that the government or the foreign troops are going to defeat them militarily. But the Taliban could turn into something different. They could evolve. I hope one day they will join the government and integrate with our police and military forces.” I agree with my friend. I also hope that one day the Taliban will change.