In Istalif, many of the mud brick houses are solidified by concrete and stone as they dotted the mountainside north of Kabul. I'm sure not all of the buildings were visible because of the extensive foliage, and a small river runs right through the town. Power lines, an irrigation system, clinic and schools have all been built up, and the dirt road leading from the main street up to Istalif has crops growing on both sides.

As we drove in around narrow dirt roads, listening to the men pan away on metal work as the wind rustled the trees a prominent thought came to my mind - "How could anyone destroy this place?"

But it was destroyed, when the Taliban took power in 1996. Almost all of the 50,000 people relocated after they wrecked about 98 percent of the infrastructure, according to what we were told.

Now, to see it is amazing. We toured a clinic, complete with OBGYN staff, a pharmacy and plenty of vaccinations to go around. The water system leaves small streams flowing throughout the area. Homes and shops are everywhere.

Istalif is different than Barek Aub. Whereas Barek Aub didn't exist before 2007, Istalif is an established town. So, whereas Barek Aub is a lot of different groups being thrown somewhere that has never supported a community, Istalif has an established history, with families having lived their for generations.

We came to deliver mostly clothes to the medical clinic workers. Not all of them were there to take it personally, but we enjoyed handing them out to those who were there and afterwards toured the small shopping area.

Later that afternoon we traveled to Chicken Street, which is pretty famous for all of the shopping available. We spent at least an hour at a rug place that was recommended by SOZO staff. The shop owner and his staff just kept flopping rug after rug after rug, and we allowed SOZO staff to help negotiate prices.

I talked with one of the SOZO staff who never left Afghanistan through all the turmoil. He reminisced about when the shops around Chicken Street were known throughout the world, with beautiful buildings with shops filled to the rooftops, and the gutters in the streets were filled with clean running water. The Chicken Street we were at was definitely chaotic and not very clean. We had some people asking us for money. One woman in particular followed us all the way to our cars. Even with the full burqa on, you could see the desperation in her eyes and hear it in her voice. We were told not to give any money to beggars on the street - otherwise we'd be ransacked by others, but as we were driving off, one of the SOZO staff provided a few dollars.

Now, as I'm typing this up before I go to bed, many of the people are in the hang-out room watching "Mr. And Mrs. Smith." Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are even popular in Afghanistan.