after three months, the us commander called marjah a "bleeding ulcer". this is marjah now. went back to the war damaged home he is too poor to repair. his brother, who planted the tree, was killed fighting for the taliban. marjah is enveloped by past loss, future pain and, for his mother, anger and grief. two more of her sons were arrested, forced into the afghan army, and died fighting. a fourth was killed in an airstrike. they said they were here to make a better afghanistan for women as well. why did your son join the taliban? in lashkar gah, you can see the forces that are shaping afghanistan. the power of religion and tradition in pashtun tribes who dominate the south. the humanitarian crisis that might force concessions to women to get western help. young talibs have smartphones — their fathers banned photography. like the world, afghanistan has changed. it is harder now to bend and break a country. jeremy bowen, bbc news, helmand. for nearly half a century satellite have been orbiting earth, providing a unique record of the evolving state of the planet, the latest sa

. >> i was there on the ground, and the truth was, marjah was a mess. >> come on!unfire) (explosions) >> narrator: the american forces could not hold marjah. they faced constant counterattacks from the taliban. >> taliban fighters would sneak in, they would lay more roadside bombs, they'd lay in wait d ambush. >> narrator: mcchrystal called it a bleeding ulcer. >> what was thought to be a war that could be turned around with some additional troops really starts to look like it's fundamentally unwinnable. marjah brings the challenges of afghanistan into much starker focus in the white house. >> narrator: with marjah, once again, an american president was being forced to concede there would be no easy victory in afghanistan. >> he's thinking a lot about lyndon johnson and vietnam. and he's thinking, here he's, might be in the very same situation-- a president with a grand, ambitious, domestic agenda with a war overseas that's unwinnable, that's, that's sucking away energy and lives and possibilities. ♪ ♪ >> he basically changes his mind. he gets into the afghanistan