Embedded

PHOTOS BY PIETER-JAN DE PUE

During a Taliban ambush, the unseen enemy unleashed a hail of rocket-propelled grenades and armor-piercing bullets. The outnumbered gunner is firing blindly from his Humvee, hoping to distract and confuse the aggressors, and I am forced to feed him ammunition as I photograph.

In the summer of 2008, photographer Pieter-Jan De Pue sent us an email asking if he could give Vice’s contact information to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan in the hope of securing an assignment to be embedded with American troops there. He had been to Afghanistan the year before, but since that trip didn’t end so well (after getting lost in the mountains, he was imprisoned, first by the Chinese Army on suspicion of being an American Air Force spy and later by tribal militia on suspicion of being al-Qaida), he was looking for a more secure way to travel the country and shoot his stories. Going on a trip with a group of guys who are part of the best-trained army in the world seemed like the safest option. He was granted access and embedded with an American unit working alongside the Afghan National Army (ANA). Two days into his assignment, the platoon was ambushed. The lieutenant was killed and four other soldiers were either injured or went nuts and had to be sent home. Lesson: It’s never safe in Afghanistan.

Upon arriving at a Taliban base camp, the ANA and US troops search the trees and tents for supplies. The ANA uses the same weapons and ammo that their enemies do. Whatever can be recovered will be used against the Taliban in a future battle. Here we see an ANA soldier with some captured Taliban rocket grenades.

When we met Pieter-Jan recently, he gave us his thoughts on the current situation. “The foreign armies that initially came to protect the people of Afghanistan don’t want to be there anymore,” he says. “The enemy knows every stone and tree—they literally live with the mountain bears, and they have all the time in the world. Plus, none of the people you’re supposed to protect still believe you’re there to help them. It’s a country where UN officials in three-piece suits drive $100,000 armored Land Cruisers to serve a population that travels by horse cart.”

Pieter-Jan told us about an ambush he was in. “Four Humvees were on a mountain road,” he recalled. “We came upon a point where the way was too narrow to continue. We had to get the fuck away or be massacred. That, for me, is a summation of the war in Afghanistan.”

Pieter-Jan is currently working on a book about his experiences. What follows is a sneak preview.

After two days of waiting, Chinook helicopters arrive to evacuate the US and ANA forces and their gear from a sticky position. Anything that could not fit on board was destroyed.

ANA soldiers guide a donkey loaded with supplies out of a deserted Taliban training site. The previous occupants left behind a cache of ammunition and medicine, and tents full of clothes and sleeping bags.

A Pashtun woman and her family plead with an ANA soldier to release a detained family member—and suspected member of the Taliban—from custody.

Immediately after the Taliban blew up a US lieutenant’s nearby Humvee in an ambush, killing him, we crammed four survivors into this vehicle. Here, Lieutenant Oravksy tells his gunner the game plan: Shoot the hell out of everything that moves while they retreat

For ANA soldiers, going to battle is a lot like attending summer camp—most of the time they’re either eating or sleeping or smoking hashish. They are not obligated to go on patrol if they are not so inclined. This guy stayed behind to enjoy his improvised shelter.

With the treacherous border of Pakistan in the background, ANA section leader Aqimbullah and his soldiers bask in their accomplishment after capturing a suspected Taliban member at a training camp.

An ANA troop searches a freshly captured Taliban soldier in the Spera district of the Khost province, near the Pakistani border. This area is thick with vegetation, which makes it ideal for covert actions.

After a rescue operation, Sergeant Yeager smokes a cigar to soothe his nerves. His split pants are the least of his worries at this point.

A posse of ANA soldiers rests near the Spera district after being dropped on a mountainside to search for a Taliban training camp.

Lieutenant Oravsky calls for more troops as ANA soldiers conduct a search of the grounds at a Taliban training facility. In this particular tent, they find a stockpile of medicine.

The ANA love their R&R. Here they hide behind the brush and smoke cigarettes and hash while enjoying some peanut butter.

ANA troops stew a mixture of bread, meat, vegetables, and a very fatty sauce at a base camp near the Pakistani border. They do not consider the MREs provided by the US forces to be halal, but eating an improvised concoction out of a dirty pot isn’t such a big deal.

Soldiers protect themselves from flying debris as they await transportation to the Spera district from Camp Clark—a half-American, half-ANA camp that is a main station in Afghanistan.

On the top of a mountain near the Pakistani border, a member of the ANA prepares his Russian-made PK machine gun for a patrol. He did not fire it once during the entire mission.

A US soldier unloads the magazine of his overheated M4 rifle and passes it back inside for a fresh gun.

Private Jackson and Specialist Maldonado fortify positions against incoming Taliban a few minutes after invading a Pashtun village near the Qalandar district. They are guarding a likely point of entry while helicopters approach to carry the injured away to safety. Moments before, they shouted at civilians to clear out of the line of fire.