Dexter Filkins

New York Times reporter Dexter Filkins has been covering clashes pitting Taliban militants against the Afghan and Pakistani governments; he joins Fresh Air to talk about recent developments in the region.

The New York Times foreign correspondent Dexter Filkins reports that the Taliban are waging an increasingly aggressive campaign in Afghanistan — a fact evidenced by a 40 percent increase in Afghan civilian deaths in 2008.

In the cover story of this week's New York Times Magazine Dexter Filkins writes about the predicament of Ahmad Chalabi: "Once Iraq's anointed leader — anointed by the Americans — Chalabi, at age 62, is without a job, spurned by the very colleagues whose ascension he engineered." The title of the piece is "Where Plan A Left Ahmad Chalabi."