Holly Barnes Higgins spent a year in Afghanistan, starting in October 2005, working on an economic development project sponsored by the U.S. government. She didn't feel very idealistic when she departed.

Here's her story.

An excerpt from the Washington Post story:

I  went because I believed in the mission: helping to improve the quality of life in a war-torn land. I was lucky to get out.

Now I am home, hearing with dismay that President Bush lauds our work as a success and is requesting more aid for Afghanistan. I think of my colleagues still back in Helmand province, especially the young Afghans who risk their lives to work with us because the United States has insisted that progress is on the way.

I know about the millions of dollars already wasted there.

When I was in the field, I sometimes had to travel to Kabul to talk to U.S. officials about various assistance strategies and whether they were viable on the ground. They call the process "groundtruthing."

A year later, this is the story of my time in Afghanistan. This is my own groundtruthing.