From the Ground in Afghanistan
Afghan Girl, 8, Burned By White Phosphorus
Eight-year-old Razia sits for a portrait on Saturday, July 25, 2009 in a room at the Bagram Air Field Hospital in Bagram, Afghanistan. During a mortar exchange between a NATO force of French and U.S. troops; and Taliban militants last March, a white phosphorus munition fell on Rahman’s home in eastern Kapisa province severely burning Razia’s face and body and killing Rahman’s other two children. Rahman’s family are the first recorded civilian casualties caused by white phosphorus in Afghanistan. The NATO force and the Taliban both denied firing the white-hot chemical typically used to illuminate the night sky and expose an enemy. A Human Rights Watch official interviewed by Reuters about the attack said the Taliban was unlikely to have white phosphorus cached, while NATO used it more regularly.
AfghanistanTalibanNATOwarUnited StatesGeneva Conventionwhite phosphoruswp
Kuchine
Kuchine refugees at Darulaman Palace in Kabul gather to drink tea and discuss survival through the winter on Sunday, October 24, 2010. Local officials placed over 100 men, women and children belonging to the nomadic group at the abandoned palace after land disputes with Hazara groups turned violent in June. The crumbling structure offers neither clean water nor substantial shelter from the cold.
Kuchine 2
Kuchine refugees at Darulaman Palace in Kabul gather to push-start a mini-van on Sunday, October 24, 2010. Local officials placed over 100 men, women and children belonging to the nomadic group at the abandoned palace after land disputes with Hazara groups turned violent in June. The crumbling structure offers neither clean water nor substantial shelter from the cold.
Kuchine 3
A Kuchine girl plays near signs that warn of unexploded ordinance on Thursday, November 24, 2010 at Darulaman Palace in Kabul. Local officials placed over 100 of the nomadic herdsman at the abandoned palace after land disputes with Hazara groups turned violent in June. The crumbling structure's cold walls don't offer much more than old bombs. There is not clean water and the airy corridors won't be substantial shelter from fast-approaching winter.
Kuchine 4
Boys play near a sign that warns of unexploded ordinance on Thursday, November 24, 2010 at Darulaman Palace in Kabul. Local officials placed over 100 of the nomadic herdsman at the abandoned palace after land disputes with Hazara groups turned violent in June. The crumbling structure's cold walls don't offer much more than old bombs. There is not clean water and the airy corridors won't be substantial shelter from fast- approaching winter.
Found
SPC Mike Bailey, 27, of 1st Platoon C-Company 7th Army 1-4, is surrounded by curious Afghan boys while watching the outskirts of the village of Pisani from inside a ditch Thursday, December 2, 2010. Afghans of all ages are notorious for gathering around foreigners and staring at them for an uncomfortable period, then asking for money, or chocolate, or a pen. According to military reports, cold weather is pushing foreign fighters back to Pakistan through Zabol province. Pisani and small neighboring villages serve as resting points for insurgents preparing for the trek through the mountains.
Aminullah
Aminullah, 19, wastes away in a bed at Merwais Hospital in Khadahar City Saturday, on December 11, 2010. Aminullah was injured in an IED blast two months earlier near his small village in Helmand province. Afghan doctors were able to stabilize his injuries but they lack the equipment and therapeutic know-how to provide a long-term solution. Unable to digest even the liquid diet provided by the hospital, Aminullah is expected to die in this bed -- of malnutrition or infection -- before spring.
Perspectives
At left, a United States soldier looks out from the rear deck of a mine-proof Buffalo vehicle toward approaching Afghan children near checkpoint Cheena, north of Qalat in Zabol province on Tuesday, December 7, 2010. The photo at left shows the children's view from the ground. The photo at right is the soldiers' view from within the truck.
IED Search
SPC Kyle Klofstad, 21, left, and SPC Jared Slate of the 2nd Striker Cavalry Regiment, Fire Squadron, Engineer Troop, 1st Platoon load into the back of an armored vehicle near Qalat in Zabol province on Monday, December 6, 2010. A recent uptick in IED activity in the area around Qalat and Shajoy has kept the platoon on constant patrol.
IED Search 2
SPC Jared Slate and SPC Kyle Klofstad, top, of the 2nd Striker Cavalry Regiment, Fire Squadron, Engineer Troop, 1st Platoon walk ahead of a convoy searching for explosives buried in sand near Qalat in Zabol province on Monday, December 6, 2010. At right, a mine-resistant vehicle follows close behind them on the same stretch of road. A recent uptick in IED activity in the area around Qalat and Shajoy has kept the platoon on constant patrol.