Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.

“Pretty cool,” Lt. Gen. Paul E. Funk II, then the commander of coalition forces fighting in Iraq and Syria, told me. “This is what stability looks like. This is what winning looks like.”

General Funk was standing in a crowded marketplace in Manbij, Syria. He was surveying stalls where vendors not only hawked spices, gold jewelry, olive soap and fresh chicken, but also freely displayed women’s undergarments and brightly colored clothes that the Islamic State banned before it was driven from the city in 2016.

He was with a delegation of two United States senators, their staffs and a military escort — none of whom wore body armor as they walked through the throngs. From the souk, the group strolled to a nearby restaurant, the Palace of Princes, for lunch with local leaders. It was July 2, 2018.