(CNN) -- Ten years ago, as the first bombs began to fall on Afghanistan, I was almost 500 miles away with our live satellite transmission dish on the roof of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan. Two weeks earlier the Taliban had forced me out of the country, but before they did I managed to get to their spiritual capital Kandahar, and to our make-shift office in a dusty, drab one-storey villa. That visit was now proving vital. My cameraman, Alfredo Delara and I set up our staff there -- two Afghan brothers -- with a camera and satellite phone. Their job was to be CNN's eyes and ears once we were forced out of the country.
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Nic Robertson and his crew were forced to leave Afghanistan by the Taliban
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The Taliban were forced from power after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S.
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But the Taliban have since regrouped and re-emerged, building on their Pashtun support
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Until recently they demanded NATO troops leave before they enter serious peace talks
Those Afghans who fret over @placeholder's departure are right to be disturbed.