Max Whittaker

Afghanistan

Members of the 82nd Airborne hunt for the Taliban in a remote mountain region.
   
A sheperd watches as members of the 82nd Airborne drive by in their humvees.
   
Afghans wait as members of the 82nd Airborne search their home for weapons or other signs of Taliban presence.
     
  
Captain John Pelikan of the 82nd Airborne chats up village elders in an attempt to gather intelligence on the Taliban.
   
Private Dan Burris, right, of the 82nd Airborne gives a cigarette to an Afghan villager after searching his home.
   
Sargeant Lawrence Buckius of the 82nd Airborne searches a home for weapons and other signs of the Taliban.
     
  
Cultural Advisor Zaki Khan, left, of the 82nd Airborne questions an Afghan youth.
   
Specialist William White of the 82nd Airborne is reflected in a mirror broken during their search of a home.
   
Afghans retrieve the bodies of their neighbors, shot by British troops.
     
  
Local Afghan leaders, mostly poppy farmers, air their greivances at a shura, or community meeting that involved local Afghans, US military, Afghan governing officials, and NATO leaders in an area that is heavily influenced by the Taliban.
   
A captured Taliban slashes his finger across his throat in an indication of what the Taliban will do to him if he cooperates with the US, during questioning by an Army interpreter.
   
Specialist Jacob Allen of the 82nd Airborne takes a smoke break. Allen says, "That's what I think about every time I pull the trigger."
     
  
Specialist Greg Weischaar, left, of the 82nd Airborne waits out a sandstorm at Forward Operations Base Diablo.
   
Private Joshua Hancock and the rest of the 82nd Airborne, 1/508 Parachute Infantry Regiment, Alpha Company, Third Platoon spend another day waiting on an isolated ridgetop for a new mission.
   
Members of the 82nd Airborne scramble after being accidentally illuminated by a friendly flare while staging a nighttime air assault into Sangin, Helmand province, the largest air assault in Afghanistan since the beginning of the war.
     
  
Sargeant Michael Clark of the 82nd Airborne plugs his ears as he blows the door of a home.
   
Pinned down under fire, members of the 82nd Airborne, 1/508, Alpha Company, Third Platoon scramble for cover. The firefight, less than 24 hours into the air assault on Sangin raged for over five hours.
   
Private Dan Burris of the 82nd Airborne searches a compound through the dust and smoke of a grenade.
     
  
Specialist Shawn Hanna of the 82nd Airborne bleeds after being struck by shrapnel while breaching a door during a nighttime air assault. Hanna was patched up by a medic, and immediately resumed the assault.
   
Specialists Jacob Allen, left, and Adam Holmgren of the 82nd Airborne take a break as they advance towards the city center of Sangin.
   
The 82nd Airborne's 1/508, Alpha Co., Third Platoon walks past an Afghan shot by British troops.
     
  
Private Corey Guthrie takes a break from advancing through the destroyed bazaar of Sangin.
   
Wracked by dsentery, Private Dan Burris of the 82nd Airborne tries to recover.
   
Medic Specialist Fred Rawcliffe, left, stiches up a shrapnel wound on the hand of Lieutenant Dan Rix, both of the 82nd Airborne.
     
  
Members of the 82nd Airborne's 1/508, Alpha Company, Third Platoon sleep in an abandoned home.
   
Specialist Adam Holmgren of the 82nd Airborne stands on guard duty.
   
Afghan refugees returning from Pakistan arrive at a UNHCR transit camp. More than 400,000 Afghan refugees are expected to return home from Pakistan in 2007. Over 100,000 have returned since March 1, as Pakistan closes refugee camps and forcibly repatriates unregistered refugees.
     
  
A member of the 82nd Airborne is reflected in an irrigation canal while patrolling.