bDok asked about being over there but there isn't much to say. I know nothing of the military and what they did or are doing. I got info through the news media like everyone else.
As far as working there it wasn't too bad. I was an electrical foreman with Fluor for three years and most of the work was preventive maintenance inspections. (some new construction every now and then) I was at a small FOB (forward operating base) with about 100 soldiers and had two helpers from India that had worked in Iraq and were reasonably knowledgeable. We built up to 600 soldiers for a while then they cut back to about 200. The last two years with Fluor they hired Afghans for each trade so I had three Afghans, Rafatullah, Faridullah, and Mohammadullah. They were good at digging ditches when we had to install a cable. We had rocket/mortar attacks about once a month but they never hit anything. (we were behind a wall so they had nothing to aim at) We would go to a concrete bunker for an hour or so until the all clear sounded over the speakers. My base closed so I applied with DynCorp and spent 13 months as a foreman with them at Camp Leatherneck in the south. HUGE base (18,000 acres according to Wikipedia) We had an electrical supervisor, two general foremen, around 8 foremen, 40 electricians and a bunch of helpers from India and Kenya. That was a pretty neat gig. The electricians would go out and do their inspections and I and another foreman would go over their paperwork to check for accuracy, errors and omissions. I sat at a desk in a tent all day and looked over paperwork for a couple of hours.
Anyway, I made good money, invested well, and can now buy a house with no mortgage with enough left over for retirement.
