An Artery of Opium a Vein of Taliban

27 July 2009
Sangin, Afghanistan

Afghanistan as seen from Washington and London.

Afghanistan as seen from the shoes of pundits who do not land here, who often say we have enough helicopters. Any politician who says we have enough helicopters should be shunned for incompetence, lying, or both.

Afghanistan as seen from the eyes of Big Business and regional powers.

As seen from the altitude of the International Space Station: Most of the world’s opium supply is produced in the area depicted. The 'Green Zone' is an artery of opium and a vein of Taliban.

As seen from the altitude of an SR-71.

As seen from the top of Mt. Everest, if Mt. Everest towered another 26,000-odd feet atop the about 3,000 feet of this hot Helmand 'desert of death.'

As seen from a British helicopter through my camera between Camp Bastion and Sangin. The 'Green Zone' in the upper left is the Helmand River Valley.

We roar into FOB Jackson and a second helicopter lands beside us. An Afghan with a sniper rifle appears on the scene.

British Soldiers from 2 Rifles rush to unload the cargo I came in with. The helicopter exhaust feels nearly hot enough to singe hair.

Our helicopter roars away from FOB Jackson.

Two Apaches overhead offer little protection against a lone wolf with an RPG, but these helicopters slip off into the sunset.

And that's where Sergeant Major Keith Evans comes into the scene. I laughed saying he looked like Billy Idol after the helicopter rotor wash, and Sergeant Major Evans laughed and kept on working.

Preparing for a mission. When they are not fighting, many soldiers watch war movies such as Blackhawk Down, Platoon, or Apocalypse Now.

After long missions in the heat, soldiers often come back to base, strip off the weapons and body armor, and jump into the cold river, uniforms and all.

The soldiers carry rockets of various sorts.

Metal detectors help ferret out the IEDs. 2 Rifles and attached units have taken 12 KIA and dozens of wounded in the past four months, mostly from IEDs. Despite this, morale is very high and some would like to get more fighting.

Into the Green Zone. Unfortunately, I was unable to go on this mission as I am assigned to another platoon, so this photograph was made from base. This soldier is fully into the battlefield.

And there they go, courageous men into the Green Zone, the very beating heart of the Taliban. As I watched them disappear into the murk of trees and mud compounds, a soldier beside me in the guard tower said, 'They’ll be in contact within twenty minutes.' And with that I said goodbye, and headed to a briefing on the enemy situation.