Politics & Government
Jonathan S. Landay and a soldier in Afghanistan's Jalrez Valley
MCT
Troops of Apache Company prepare to pull out of Forward Operating Base Airborne on the advance into the Jalrez Valley. By Jonathan S. Landay.
A soldier of Apache Company gestures from the turret of his Humvee as his unit prepares to pull out of Forward Operating Base Airborne on the advance into the Jalrez Valley. By Jonathan S. Landay.
Lt. Tyjuan Campbell, of Palmetto, Fla., gives his troops of Apache Company, 2nd Battalion, 82nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Brigade, a final operational briefing before they begin an advance into the Jalrez Valley, a Taliban stronghold from which the insurgents infiltrate the Afghan capital of Kabul. His unit was among 200 U.S. soldiers who began establishing the first U.S. bases in the remote valley in Wardak Province. By Jonathan S. Landay.
JALREZ VALLEY, Afghanistan _ The heavily armored Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles of Apache Company grind slowly into the Jalrez Valley, a Taliban sanctuary from which the insurgents infiltrate into the Afghan capital of Kabul. The valley's residents are said by U.S. officers to be strongly pro-Taliban and the Afghan government has no authority there. By Jonathan S. Landay.
A young boy holds the lead of his donkey as he watches the U.S. armored convoy move into the Jalrez Valley. By Jonathan S. Landay.
A soldier from Apache company enters an abandoned French-built agricultural center that the unit took over as its base in the valley. By Jonathan S. Landay.
Apache Company troops break in a door of a room of the abandoned French-built agricultural center as the unit searches the compound for booby traps before taking it over for their base. By Jonathan S. Landay.
A soldier of Apache Company looks on as one of the comrades searches the cookhouse of the abandoned French-built agricultural center that the unit took over as its base. By Jonathan S. Landay.
A soldier of Apache Company looks on as one of the comrades searches the cookhouse of the abandoned French-built agricultural center that the unit took over as its base. By Jonathan S. Landay.
An Afghan National Army officer stands in front of the French-built agricultural center. By Jonathan S. Landay.
U.S. soldiers of Apache Company continue their search of the abandoned French-built agricultural center. By Jonathan S. Landay.
The Afghan National Army officer tells officers from Apache Company that his soldiers are not going stay with the U.S. unit at the abandoned French-built agricultural center after sunset and will return to their own base back down the valley. By Jonathan S. Landay.
Two boys from the Hazara ethnic group walk past Apache Company's MRAP armored vehicles. By Jonathan S. Landay.
A U.S. Army sniper looks through his rifle's scope to check out a dark shape on a nearby mountainside that turned out to be a large rock. By Jonathan S. Landay.
A U.S. Army sniper looks through his rifle's scope to check out a dark shape on a nearby mountainside that turned out to be a large rock. By Jonathan S. Landay.
A young boy shows a U.S. soldier his English language primer and asks how to pronounce English words. Most of the residents of the valley are poor and illiterate. By Jonathan S. Landay.
of 17
i
