Recently I was in Kandahar, the city at the epicenter of the conflict in Afghanistan, for a week of field research. I spoke with many Afghan civilians, those directly affected and those not, to get a sense of their views of the different warring parties, and their attitudes toward the upcoming US and NATO offensive in Kandahar ^[1]. Though military and governmental officials wax optimistic that this offensive will turn the tide in Afghanistan, those I spoke to feared it would only lead to more civilian harm in a city already ravaged by years of conflict.